Q9

[e.sterlingsmith]

I originally chose C after being between D and C due to all the mention in the passage of wood being used in EG's lacquer work. I correctly chose E after my review/second pass, I just wanted to be clear on the support. Am I correct in thinking lines 37-39 were the key here?

[christine.defenbaugh]

Great question, e.sterlingsmith!

First, you definitely want to be using quote support to justify an answer on a question like this, so I'm glad you're looking back to the text.

You're right that wood is mentioned a lot in the passage, but there's nothing that would seem to indicate that she exclusively works in wood - and in fact, the quote you reference undermines that idea since EG "often used modern materials, such as tubular steel." But she's clearly open to a number of materials - metals, wood, etc. So that's really not terribly helpful in making eliminations.

What's super useful in the lines you cite, though, is that her work was often "visually austere". But there's an even more useful quote about her "artistic sensibilities" at the end of paragraph 1 - lines 13-17. According to this, EG avoided "flowing, leafy lines" and preferred "austere beauty of straight lines and simple forms."

Regardless of which quote you use, the idea here is that simple, clean lines are what EG is all about - nothing flowery, intricate, or overly bedazzled. All four of the wrong answers have the wrong overall aesthetic - tassels, curves, intricate birds/trees, ornate flowers, beads/pearls/shells, etc.

[AndresA229]

I'm struggling to fully understand why C is wrong. I was thinking of no important distinction between interior and exterior. But I suppose a vase vs flowers is an important distinction. Something without an important distinction would be versatile? Am I on the right track?

[LaurenP895]

I eliminated C because of the "meet their occupants needs" which is why I chose E since a vase with flowers isn't a need whereas E was more along the lines of meeting the occupant's needs, but I don't know if that's correct explanation that is just what my thought process was

[christine.defenbaugh]

I'm afraid you guys are both off track. The idea that her work generally indicated "no important distinction between interior and exterior" isn't a requirement that every single thing she creates will do that. And she often created "furniture and environments that.... [met] their occupants' needs," but again, that's not a hard rule that everything she creates must be for a need. These are both artificially rigid readings.

Your best bet is to stop looking for characteristics you think the wrong answers are missing, and start looking at the characteristics they have that don't match Gray's style.

(A) "tasseled fringes" and "curved...arms"
(B) "intricate", "birds, trees, and grasses", and "bright colors"
(C) "resemble[s] ...ornate flowers"
(D) "round", "glass beads, pearls," and "colorful shells"

The correct answer fits with "the austere beauty of straight lines and simple forms juxtaposed" (lines 16-17). None of these quoted bits do.

[AshH953]

C was my timed pick but I get how C is wrong.
Gray's work are 1) simple, and meeting needs; 2) align interior with exterior.
By making a vase that resembles the ornate flowers, the vase is probably ornate as well to fit 2), so it fails the 'simple' part. The other way around, if the vase is simple, it fails 2). Meanwhile, a vase designed like this is rather catering to the spectator than meeting needs of the flowers (occupant).