The distinction that modern artists and art critics make between the

Question

The distinction that modern artists and art critics make between the arts, on the one hand, and crafts, on the other, was foreign to classical antiquity. Both arts and crafts were regarded by the ancient Greeks as “productions according to rule” and both were classified as techne, which can be translated as “organized knowledge and procedure applied for the purpose of producing a specific preconceived result.” This concept runs directly counter to the deeply ingrained insight of modern aesthetic thought is that art cannot be reduced to rule, cannot be produced in accordance with pre-established concepts or rules, and cannot be evaluated using a set of rules reducible to a formula. The Greek concept, with its attendant notion that the appropriate criterion for judging excellence in both the arts and the crafts was the “perfection” of their production, predominated until the middle of the eighteenth century, when the French aesthetician Charles Batteux heralded the idea that what distinguishes the arts from the crafts and the sciences is the arts’ production of beauty. This idea lasted until the beginning of the present century when some critics argued that “beauty” was a highly ambiguous term, far too broad and indefinite for the purpose of defining or evaluating art, while, on the other hand, many artists expressly repudiated “beauty” because of its too-narrow associations with an outmoded view that art was beautiful and therefore should not be evaluated or analyzed, but should merely be appreciated. Since 1900, a large number of definitions of art have emerged, each of them covering a sector of accepted creative and critical practice but none of them, apparently, are applicable to the whole of what is accepted as art by the art world.

Not only do contemporary definitions of art fail to agree on any common approach to art or on common areas of concern, but individually many of them do not even serve to differentiate those works that are conventionally adopted as art by many artists and critics from those that are not. For example, the “mimetic” theory holds that art reproduces reality, but although amateurs’ photographs reproduce reality, most artists and art critics do not consider them art. Much of what is recognized as art conforms to the definition of art as the creation of forms, but an engineer and the illustrator of a geometry textbook also construct forms. The inadequacy of these definitions suggests a strong element of irrationality, for it suggests that the way in which artists and art critics talk and think about works of art does not correspond with the way in which they actually distinguish those things that they recognize as works of art from the things that they do not so recognize.

Not only do contemporary definitions of art fail to agree on any common approach to art or on common areas of concern, but individually many of them do not even serve to differentiate those works that are conventionally adopted as art by many artists and critics from those that are not. For example, the “mimetic” theory holds that art reproduces reality, but although amateurs’ photographs reproduce reality, most artists and art critics do not consider them art. Much of what is recognized as art conforms to the definition of art as the creation of forms, but an engineer and the illustrator of a geometry textbook also construct forms. The inadequacy of these definitions suggests a strong element of irrationality, for it suggests that the way in which artists and art critics talk and think about works of art does not correspond with the way in which they actually distinguish those things that they recognize as works of art from the things that they do not so recognize.  
 1  
 1. In his treatment of contemporary definitions of art, the author expresses

(A) praise for their virtues
(B) concern about their defects
(C) approval of their strengths
(D) indifference to people who take them seriously
(E) ridicule for people who ignore them

2  
 2. The passage is most relevant to which of the following areas of study?

(A) The history of aesthetics
(B) The history of literature
(C) The sociology of art
(D) The psychology of art
(E) The sociology of aesthetics

3  
 3. The passage suggests that, compared to the conceptions of art of earlier eras, twentieth century conceptions are more

(A) ambiguous and amateurish
(B) skeptical and irrational
(C) diverse and fragmented
(D) conventional and didactic
(E) realistic and relevant

4  
 4. The author is primarily concerned in the first paragraph with discussing:

(A) problems of producing art.
(B) methods of defining art.
(C) criticisms of Greek art.
(D) similarities between arts and crafts.
(E) differences among various conceptions of art.

5  
 5. According to the passage, one characteristic that many contemporary definitions of art have in common is that they are:

(A) easy to understand because of their simplicity.
(B) precise in their description of different types of artwork.
(C) similar to ancient conceptions of art except for minor differences in terminology.
(D) applicable to art of former centuries, as well as to contemporary art.
(E) inconsistent with judgments made by many artists and art critics as to which creations are and which are not works of art.

6  
 6. According to the passage, which of the following objections to using “beauty” as the criterion for defining and appraising art emerged in the twentieth century?

I. The word “beauty” can have many different meanings.
II. “Beauty” is associated with an obsolete conception of art as something merely to be appreciated.
III. The ancient Greeks did not use “beauty” as their criterion for judging the value of works of art.

(A) I only
(B) III only
(C) I and II only
(D) II and III only
(E) I, II, and III

7  
 7. According to the passage, in contrast to the ancient Greek concept of art, modern aesthetic thought holds that:

(A) artists can have no preconceptions about their work if it is to be good.
(B) the creation of art cannot be governed by stringent rules.
(C) “perfection” is too vague a concept to use as a criterion for judging art.
(D) procedures used to judge art should be similar to procedures used to create art.
(E) arts and crafts are similar because they are both created using the same techniques.

8  
 8. The author refers to amateurs’ photograph in order to:

(A) illustrate a critical convention accepted by the art world.
(B) show the weakness of the mimetic theory of art.
(C) describe a way in which art reproduces reality.
(D) explain an objection to classifying photographs as works of art.
(E) underscore the need for a conception of art that does not include photography.

9  
 9. All of the following appear in the passage EXCEPT:

(A) a generalization.
(B) a comparison.
(C) a definition.
(D) an anecdote.
(E) an example.

bM22 · Accepted Answer

3) The passage suggests that, compared to the conceptions of art of earlier eras, twentieth century conceptions are more

A) ambiguous and amateurish
B) skeptical and irrational
 C) diverse and fragmented
 D) conventional and didactic
E) realistic and relevant

Correct Answer: C,

Explanation: can be inferred from the lines: "Since 1900, a large number of definitions of art have emerged, each covering a sector of accepted creative and critical practice but none, apparently, applicable to the whole of what is accepted as art by the art world.

Not only do contemporary definitions of art fail to agree on any common approach to art or on common areas of concern, but individually many of them do not even serve to differentiate those works that are conventionally accepted as art by many artists and critics from those that are not."., implying that there is a failure in regards to a common approach to art, making C a better choice.

Option A cannot be inferred from the passage. Though the word ‘irrational’ is applied to the inconsistency of modern artists’ and art critic’s definitions of art, we cannot say that they are skeptical about their conception of art. Therefore B is incorrect. We can also rule out D, since from the 1st two lines mentioned above we can say that art is not conventional, since there are so many concepts associated with it. E can be directly ruled out, since it cannot be inferred from the passage, and author finds opposite of what's mentioned as true.

Hope this Helps.
Thanks.

bM22 · Answer

The OA's of all the questions are correct. These are not the official explanations, but let me know if they help.

1) In his treatment of contemporary definitions of art, the author expresses

A) praise for their virtues
 B) concern about their defects
 C) approval of their strengths
D) indifference to people who take them seriously
E) ridicule for people who ignore them

Correct Answer: B,
 
Explanation: can be inferred from the lines: “Since 1900, a large number of definitions of art have emerged...none of them, apparently, are applicable to the whole of what is accepted as art by the art world......Not only do contemporary definitions of art fail to agree on any common approach to art or on common areas of concern, but individually many of them do not even serve to differentiate those works that are conventionally adopted as art by many artists and critics from those that are not.”, implying that throughout the passage, author expresses concern about the defects of contemporary art definitions.

2) The passage is most relevant to which of the following areas of study?

A) The history of aesthetics
 B) The history of literature
C) The sociology of art
D) The psychology of art
E) The sociology of aesthetics

Correct Answer: A

Explanation: as mentioned in the passage: "This concept runs directly counter to the deeply ingrained insight of modern aesthetic thought that art cannot be reduced to rule and cannot be evaluated using a set of rules reducible to a formula. The Greek concept predominated until the middle of the eighteenth century, when the French aesthetician Charles Batteux heralded the idea that what distinguishes the arts from the crafts and the sciences is the arts’ production of beauty.", implying that author traces the history of art as aesthetic back to the Greeks. Aesthetics, in general are principles pertaining to appreciation of beauty or art. Other options have not been discussed in the passage, making A the best choice.

Thanks.

Harsh2111s · Answer

VeritasKarishma   GMATNinja 
This passage is mostly revolving around art.

Since 1900, a large number of definitions of art .........
Not only do contemporary definitions of art fail to agree on .......
 because it suggests that the way in which artists and art critics talk and think about works of art does.......

Quoting a statment about aesthetics doesn't make passage relevant to the "history of aesthetics".
Please explain this question.

KarishmaB · Answer

First of all, let me say that it is a difficult question.

Aesthetics involves the measure of beauty in arts. This is the exact definition of aesthetics from dictionary.com

- the branch of philosophy dealing with such notions as the beautiful, the ugly, the sublime, the comic, etc., as applicable to the fine arts, with a view to establishing the meaning and validity of critical judgments concerning works of art, and the principles underlying or justifying such judgments.

Now notice ancient Greeks, middle of 18th century, 1900s, till 20th century, contemporary...

So a history of aesthetics course is quite likely to have this passage in it.

Sociology and psychology are related to society and human behaviour respectively. They don't seem very relevant.

Answer (A)

Sajjad1994 · Answer

I am posting the explanation (Available at 800Score) of the two toughest questions, the question number 2&6.

Official Explanation

2. The passage is most relevant to which of the following areas of study?

Explanation

Since the passage traces the definition of art from ancient Greek times to the present, the most appropriate area of study to which this passage belongs is history of aesthetics. Aesthetics are principles pertaining to appreciation of beauty or art. The passage offers no information about psychology or sociology, the study of the structures of human society. The answer requires that the passage be read in depth and then an inference be drawn from it.

Answer: A

6. According to the passage, which of the following objections to using “beauty” as the criterion for defining and appraising art emerged in the twentieth century?

Explanation

Regarding  Statement I  and  II , the author says in the first paragraph that  “some critics argued that ‘beauty’ was a highly ambiguous term, far too broad and indefinite for the purpose of defining or evaluating art, while, on the other hand, many artists expressly repudiated ‘beauty’ because of its too-narrow associations with an outmoded view that art was beautiful and therefore should not be evaluated or analyzed, but should merely be appreciated.”  However,  Statement III  can be ruled out; the author objects to using  “beauty”  as the criterion for defining and appraising art that emerged in the 20th century. Not only does the author object to using  “beauty”  as a defining word for art, but he or she believes that past definitions of art are no longer valid anyway. Hence,  (C)  is the correct option. The answer is directly available from the  first paragraph  but it needs validation of multiple points.

Answer: C

tkorzhan1995 · Answer

GMATNinja ,  VeritasKarishma , can you please help explain the difference between The sociology of art and The sociology of aesthetics?

KarishmaB · Answer

The relevant distinction is between history and sociology, not art and aesthetic. Since the historical aspect is discussed and not sociological (related to society and impact on it), it is more relevant to a history of aesthetics. We don't need to focus on the exact distinction between art and aesthetics and it is not explained in the passage anyway.

VerbalBot · Answer

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