Reading ComprehensionDifficulty: Hard

PT9 S1 P1 Q6 Explanation

Digital Photography

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Reading Comprehension question.

TopicsAuthor OpinionHumanities

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Passage

Many argue that recent developments in electronic technology such as computers and videotape have enabled artists to vary their forms of expression. For example, video art can now achieve images whose effect is produced by “digitalization”: breaking up the picture using computerized information processing. Such new technologies create new ways of seeing new equipment also allows for the preservation of previously unrecordable aspects of performances, thus enriching archives.

By contrast, others claim that technology subverts the artistic enterprise: that artistic efforts achieved with machines preempt human creativity, rather than being inspired by it. The originality of musical performance, for example, might suffer, as musicians would be deprived of the opportunity to spontaneously change pieces of music before live audiences. Some assisted our capacity for creative expression and can refine our notions of any given art form.

For example, the portable camera and the snapshot were developed at the same time as the rise of Impressionist painting in the nineteenth century. These photographic technologies encouraged a new appreciation for the chance view and unpredictable angle, thus preparing an audience for a new style of painting. In addition, Impressionist artists to vary their subject matter, thus giving rise to the abstract creations characteristic of modern art.

What this question is testing

Author Opinion

Your task

Pin down exactly what the question asks about the passage — a detail, the author's view, the structure, or the main point — before looking at the choices.

Common trap

Answers that restate a true detail from the passage but don't answer the specific question being asked.

Winning move

Anticipate the answer in your own words from the passage, then find the choice that matches that prediction.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
6.

It can be inferred from the passage that the author would agree with which one of the following statements regarding changes in painting

Answer choices

  1. Out of Scope: applying methods elsewhere13% picked this

    The artistic experiments of the nineteenth century led painters to use a variety of methods in creating portraits, which they then

    The idea of painters applied portrait methods to other subject matter isn't discussed in the last paragraph. We just heard that, "since cameras can handle portraits, now painters can spend their time on other subject matter".

  2. Unsupported Causal Relationship36% picked this

    The nineteenth-century knowledge of light and movement provided by photography inspired the abstract works characteristic

    We heard that, "since cameras can handle portraits, now painters can spend their time on other subject matter, which thus gave rise to the abstract creations of modern art". This isn't saying anything about "knowledge of light and movement" giving rise to abstract creations. It's just saying, "now that we don't have to spend our time making portraits, we can spend our time developing new styles of art". We were told that Degas used his new understanding of light and movement to more accurately capture reality, not to make abstract stuff.

  3. Too Strong: exclusively1% picked this

    Once painters no longer felt that they had to paint conventional portraits, they turned exclusively

    This captures the gist of the final sentence, but turns up the volume way too much. We know that "painters had more freedom to vary their subject matter, which gave rise to abstract creations". But we can't say that they turned exclusively to abstract stuff. And we never actually talked about abstract portraits.

  4. Unsupported Causal Relationship15% picked this

    Once painters were less limited to the Impressionist style, they were able to experiment with a variety of

    If this answer started by saying, "Once painters were less limited by an obligation to paint portraits ...", then it would be fine. Instead, it's acting like there was a causal relationship between "leaving Impressionism" and experimenting with abstract act. Nothing in the last paragraph ever suggests that these painters became less limited to the Impressionist style.

  5. Correct34% picked this

    Once painters painted fewer conventional portraits, they had greater opportunity to move beyond the literal

    Why this is right

    This is a meaning match for the final sentence. Abstract art is nonrepresentational. It isn't designed to represent a specific thing or person. We were told in the final sentence that because photography preempted painting as a way of getting portraits, painters had more freedom to vary subject matter, which gave rise to abstract creations. So that captures the idea that once they were freed from portrait duty, they had more chance to try abstract stuff (which moves beyond a literal depiction).

    Skill tested: Author Opinion · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

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