Elaine: The purpose of art museums is to preserve artworks and make

Question

Elaine: The purpose of art museums is to preserve artworks and make them available to the public. Museums, therefore, should seek to acquire and display the best examples of artworks from each artistic period and genre, even if some of these works are not recognized by experts as masterpieces.

Frederick: Art museums ought to devote their limited resources to acquiring the works of recognized masters in order to ensure the preservation of the greatest artworks.

Elaine’s and Frederick’s statements provide the most support for the claim that they would disagree about whether

(A) many artistic masterpieces are not recognized as such by art experts
(B) museums should seek to represent all genres of art in their collections
(C) art museums should seek to preserve works of art
(D) an art museum ought to acquire an unusual example of a period or genre if more characteristic examples are prohibitively expensive
(E) all of the artworks that experts identify as masterpieces are actually masterpieces

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

Pre-thinking:

Elaine lays stress on museums acquiring and displaying "the best examples of artworks from  each artistic period and genre ". Frederick, on the other hand, believes that museums should acquire "the works of recognized masters". Therefore, the correct answer will focus on this difference.

Let us examine the answer options:

(A) many artistic masterpieces are not recognized as such by art experts  This is not consistent with the areas focused on by Elaine and Frederick as stated in the passage. Eliminate.

(B) museums should seek to represent all genres of art in their collections  Correct answer. This is a part of what Elaine focuses on but Frederick does not. They would, hence, disagree on this point.

(C) art museums should seek to preserve works of art  Both agree on this. They only differ on the  what art  should be preserved. Eliminate.

(D) an art museum ought to acquire an unusual example of a period or genre if more characteristic examples are prohibitively expensive  Neither of them focuses on the cost of acquisition of art by museums, only on the type of art. Eliminate.

(E) all of the artworks that experts identify as masterpieces are actually masterpieces  Frederick possibly agrees with this point ( recognized 
masters... greatest  artworks). However, we do not know if Elaine necessarily disagrees - she may want to focus on different periods and genres despite agreeing with this statement. We cannot be sure that they disagree on this. Eliminate.

Hope this helps.

sahilsh · Answer

I don't agree with OA but I reached to this answer choice with POE.

(A) many artistic masterpieces are not recognized as such by art experts.  Both E and F agree to this fact. Hence this is not point of disagreement 
(B) museums should seek to represent all genres of art in their collections This is also not a point of disagreement whether museums should keep all 'Genres' of art. The disagreement is whether only masterpieces should be kept. Anyway we will come back to this 
(C) art museums should seek to preserve works of art.  Both E and F agree to this fact. Hence this is not point of disagreement 
(D) an art museum ought to acquire an unusual example of a period or genre if more characteristic examples are prohibitively expensive  The argument talks about resources. Those resources can be money, can be space or can be maintenance. Also only F brings the question of resources. Hence Irrelevant 
(E) all of the artworks that experts identify as masterpieces are actually masterpieces.  No disagreement on this. This is not event point of discussion, Hence Irrelevant

Hence the best of all choices I option B. But still not okay with the quality of question. Would like to know Experts' opinion.

prateekchugh · Answer

KAPLAN OFFICIAL SOLUTION

(B) Point at Issue
Kaplan’s Decision Tree method is a valuable tool for
Point at Issue questions.
Elaine thinks museums should have and show the best
examples of art from every period and genre so that
the public can have exposure to a diverse and
representative collection of artworks, even if those
works aren’t by the recognized “masters.” But
Frederick couldn’t care less about that. He believes
museums should dedicate their money to buying and
showing masterpieces, regardless of their period or
genre. Thus, the two of them disagree about the top
priority of museums: Elaine says it’s representing all
periods and genres, but Frederick says it’s displaying
the works of the masters. Let’s try the Decision Tree
here to find the right answer.
(A) The issue of expert recognition in the argument
involves whether museums should limit their
collections to what experts recognize as great, not
whether experts sometimes overlook masterpieces.
Eliminate.
(B) Does Elaine have an opinion here? Definitely! (B),
in effect, restates Elaine’s conclusion. Does Frederick
have an opinion? Yes. He says that museums should
not have this goal, but rather the goal of preserving as
many masterpieces as possible, regardless of period
or genre. Do these two opinions disagree? To be sure.
This is our winner.
(C) is something Elaine and Frederick both have
opinions about, but those opinions actually agree.
Where they disagree is on which of those works they
should acquire.
(D) Neither speaker has an opinion on the relative cost
of the artworks. Definitely not what we’re looking for.
(E) We don’t know whether Elaine trusts expert
opinions or not, just that she thinks museums should
not be beholden to them, so this answer is incorrect.

deepshanker005 · Answer

VeritasKarishma   GMATNinja  please help me with this question

deveshj21 · Answer

nightblade354 
Man this question blew me, can you please do POE of this question for me.
Also the tag stating the difficulty level needs to be changed for this question.

nightblade354 · Answer

Elaine: The purpose of art museums is to preserve artworks and make them available to the public. Museums, therefore, should seek to acquire and display the best examples of artworks from each artistic period and genre, even if some of these works are not recognized by experts as masterpieces.

Frederick: Art museums ought to devote their limited resources to acquiring the works of recognized masters in order to ensure the preservation of the greatest artworks.

E's conclusion: Preserve examples from each genre and time period, even non masterpieces

F's conclusion: Only display recognized masters' artwork

OK, simply put, we have a disagreement about what the museum should preserve.

Elaine’s and Frederick’s statements provide the most support for the claim that they would disagree about whether

(A) many artistic masterpieces are not recognized as such by art experts --  Neither argue for/against an expert's definition of a masterpiece. In fact, E clearly says she doesn't care if they are masterpieces, so this out.

(B) museums should seek to represent all genres of art in their collections --  E says yes, whereas F says no. F says only masterpieces. This is exactly what we talked about above. Perfect.

(C) art museums should seek to preserve works of art --  They both agree with this. Once more, it is a matter of WHAT each wants to preserve. Out.

(D) an art museum ought to acquire an unusual example of a period or genre if more characteristic examples are prohibitively expensive --  We are never told anything about price as a requirement or characteristic from either view point, so this is out. Neither cares about price, but F does care about the apparently limited resources (but not about price. Remember, F says masterpieces, which are probably not cheap).

(E) all of the artworks that experts identify as masterpieces are actually masterpieces --  Similar to (A). We do not care about the definition used by experts because we are not seeing an argument about definitions. We are seeing an argument about what we want to see/collect.

unraveled · Answer

Elaine: The  purpose of art museums is to preserve artworks and make them available to the public . Museums, therefore, should seek to acquire and display the best examples of artworks from each artistic period and genre, even if some of these works are not recognized by experts as masterpieces.

Frederick: Art museums ought to  devote their limited resources to acquiring the works of recognized masters  in order to  ensure the preservation  of the greatest artworks.

Elaine’s and Frederick’s statements provide the most support for the claim that they would disagree about whether

(A)  many artistic masterpieces are not recognized  as such by art experts
(B)  museums should seek to represent all genres of art  in their collections
(C) art museums should  seek to preserve works of art 
(D) an art museum  ought to acquire an unusual example of a period or genre if  more characteristic examples are prohibitively expensive
(E) all of the artworks that experts identify as  masterpieces are actually masterpieces

The two highlighted text are views of Frederick and Elaine. Both agree on acquiring and preserving the artworks, but not for genres. Only B reflects on that.

Answer B.

Namangupta1997 · Answer

Hi  nightblade354

F says only masterpieces. He never poses any restrictions on genres. There could be 1 masterpiece of all genres if it fits in the budget of the museum. How is B correct ?

nightblade354 · Answer

You are 100% correct, to a certain extent. Adam Tyson at Power Score (link) explains a similar situation to a fellow user. In the end, it comes down to what the goal of the museum should be: https://forum.powerscore.com/viewtopic.php?t=15184

Gemmie · Answer

Elaine believes that museums should seek to acquire and display the best examples of artworks from each artistic period and genre, even if they are not recognized as masterpieces. This suggests she values a diverse representation of art genres.Frederick believes that museums should focus their limited resources on acquiring the works of recognized masters to ensure the preservation of the greatest artworks. This suggests he prioritizes recognized masterpieces over a diverse representation of genres.

Therefore, the claim they would disagree about is:

(B) museums should seek to represent all genres of art in their collections.

Elaine would likely agree with this claim, while Frederick would likely disagree, as he emphasizes the importance of recognized masterpieces over genre representation.

---

(A): many artistic masterpieces are not recognized as such by art experts 
Neither statement addresses experts' recognition of masterpieces directly.

( C): art museums should seek to preserve works of art 
Both Elaine and Frederick agree on preserving art (museum's purpose for Frederick, making art available for Elaine).

(D): an art museum ought to acquire an unusual example of a period or genre if more characteristic examples are prohibitively expensive 
Elaine might consider unusual pieces for genre representation, while Frederick prioritizes recognized masters regardless of cost. Their disagreement is broader than just cost (genre vs. masters).

(E): all of the artworks that experts identify as masterpieces are actually masterpieces 
Neither statement talks about the accuracy of expert identification.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Elaine: The purpose of art museums is to preserve artworks and make

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