Q11

[AgopianR377]

I'm really confused with this question. A few of the answers such as A, C and E all seem very similar to me with their meaning. I am having a hard time distinguishing the answer choices from one another. Also would the support for this question be found in the 3rd paragraph?

Thanks in advance!

[ohthatpatrick]

Hey, Regina!

Looks like we have two main sources for what T believes:

line 4-7: "High art is produced by and for political and social elites"

line 20-24: "High art was made to express and mirror the ideals of the rich person paying for it (the elite)." Doesn't matter what the artist's identity was ... we can look at the art work created and say, "Ah, THERE'S the ideology of the elite".

They might sneak in line 47-52: It just adds in the idea that T might sometimes have to say, "Sure, this elite person claimed to disapprove of the art they paid for, but nonetheless, that art showed us the ideology of the elite."

(A) "Most" talented? Never used that extreme modifier.
(B) "Most" successful? Never used that extreme modifier.
(C) Maybe ... this is like 47-52. "If it endures" relates to 47-48.
(D) "Typically" aristocratic or middle class? Do we know it's USUALLY from that class? I think it said "produced by and for the elite", so maybe.
(E) "most" talented? Never used that extreme modifier.

A, B, and E were quick eliminations because they used an extreme term we never used in the passage.

To support (C), I would look at lines 47-52 again.
To support (D), I would look at lines 4-7 again.

In lines 4-7, it says that "high art" is produced BY and for the elite, so we could sign off on (D) if it were saying "typically, high art is produced by artists who are themselves aristocratic or middle class".

But this answer is about "art that reflects the ideology of the elite". We know T believes that "high art" is underneath that umbrella; it DOES reflect the ideology of the elite.

But there might be tons of "low art" that also reflects the ideology of the elite and that may have been produced by lower class artists.

To support (C), we look at lines 47-52, and we're not seeing anything that looks like "undermining or supporting" the ideology of the elite.

Can we accept that ....
Elite art-funder overtly disapproves = appears to undermine the ideology of elite?

I guess so, when we consider T's position from lines 20-24 that the art is being made to reflect the elite's ideology.

Can we accept that ...
art that embodied the ideals of the elite = supports the ideology of the elite in some way?

Sure. So (C) is just reinforcing what we're saying in lines 47-52, while using T's defining opinion in lines 20-24.

[AgopianR377]

Thank you for the detailed clarification, Patrick.

It makes a lot more sense now!