October 2001 LSAT
Section 2
Question 8
According to the passage, Bearden's innovative painting techniques illustrate
Replies
shunhe on April 13, 2020
Hi jingjingxiao11111@gmail.com, sorry to keep bothering you about this, but some of the instructors are having troubles seeing the questions to which you refer. Do you happen to have the test/section/question number?jingjingxiao11111@gmail.com on April 14, 2020
October 2001 SEC 2 Q8shunhe on April 14, 2020
Hi @jingjingxiao11111@gmail.com,Thanks for the question! The question asks us for what Bearden’s innovative painting techniques illustrate. Now, we want to be able to find something in the passage that supports this, so let’s take a look at how the right answer is supported. (C) is supported in lines 11-14, when we’re told that Bearden could force commonplace subjects to undergo a metamorphosis when filtered through a resourceful artist’s techniques. This basically rephrases (C), which talks about transforming ordinary subject matter via the ability of art.
(D), on the other hand, talks about Bearden’s innovative painting techniques illustrating the importance of combining painting’s abstractions with photography’s clarity. But this is actually the opposite of what Bearden would’ve wanted to do. Take a look at lines 45-48, the only mention of photography in the passage. We’re told that one of Bearden’s goals was actually to reveal a world that had been hidden and rendered cloudy by various things, including the simplifications of documentary photography. Photography’s simplifications and clarity, thought Bearden, actually was not something to aspire to, and so (D) can be ruled out.
Hope this helps. Feel free to ask any further questions that you might have.