Vandenburg: This art museum is not adhering to its purpose. Its founders intended it to devote as much attention to ...

Victoria on July 3, 2019

Hi @Julian-Musikant,

Let's start by going through the passage.

Vandenburg argues that the art museum is not adhering to its purpose. Why? Because "its founders intended it to devote as much attention to contemporary art as to the art of earlier periods, but its collection of contemporary art is far smaller than its other collections."

Simpson responds by arguing that "the relatively small size of the museum's contemporary art collection is appropriate." Why? Because it is an art museum which means that it is not "designed to collect every style of every period" and because "its curators believe that there is little high-quality contemporary art."

E is incorrect because it does not help to justify Simpson's reasoning. In fact, it actually contradicts Simpson's argument. Simpson is arguing that the size of the museum's contemporary art collection is appropriate because of the beliefs (or intentions) of the museum's curators. The principle that the intentions of the curators should not determine what the museum collects goes against Simpson's argument.

A helps to support Simpson's reasoning. One potential weakness in Simpson's argument can be found in the last sentence: "its contemporary art collection is small because its curators believe that there is little high-quality contemporary art." Why does it matter if the art is high-quality? This is directly addressed by the principle outlined in answer choice A: "an art museum should collect only works that its curators consider to be of high artistic quality." Therefore, if the curators believe that there is little high-quality contemporary art, it is appropriate that the museum's contemporary collection is relatively small even if this goes against the founders' intentions.

Hope this is helpful! Please let us know if you have any further questions.