In the history of nineteenth-century landscape painting in the United

Question

In the history of nineteenth-century landscape
painting in the United States, the Luminists are
distinguished by their focus on atmosphere and
light. The accepted view of Luminist paintings is
 (5)  that they are basically spiritual and imply a tranquil
mysticism that contrasts with earlier American
artists’ concept of nature as dynamic and energetic.
According to this view, the Luminist atmosphere,
characterized by “pure and constant light,” guides
 (10)  the onlooker toward a lucid transcendentalism, an
idealized vision of the world.

What this view fails to do is to identify the true
significance of this transcendental atmosphere in
Luminist paintings. The prosaic factors that are
 (15)  revealed by a closer examination of these works
suggest that the glowing appearance of nature in
Luminism is actually a sign of nature’s
domestication, its adaptation to human use. The
idealized Luminist atmosphere thus seems to
 (20)  convey, not an intensification of human responses
to nature, but rather a muting of those emotions,
like awe and fear, which untamed nature elicits.

One critic, in describing the spiritual quality of
harbor scenes by Fitz Hugh Lane, an important
 (25)  Luminist, carefully notes that “at the peak of
Luminist development in the 1850s and 1860s,
spiritualism in America was extremely widespread.”
It is also true, however, that the 1850s and 1860s
were a time of trade expansion. From 1848 until his
 (30)  death in 1865, Lane lived in a house with a view of
the harbor of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and he
made short trips to Maine, New York, Baltimore,
and probably Puerto Rico. In all of these places he
painted the harbors with their ships—the
 (35)  instruments of expanding trade.

Lane usually depicts places like New York
Harbor, with ships at anchor, but even when he
depicts more remote, less commercially active
harbors, nature appears pastoral and domesticated
 (40)  rather than primitive or unexplored. The ships,
rather than the surrounding landscapes—including
the sea—are generally the active element in his
pictures. For Lane the sea is, in effect, a canal or a
trade route for commercial activity, not a free,
 (45)  powerful element, as it is in the early pictures of his
predecessor, Cole. For Lane nature is subdued,
even when storms are approaching; thus, the sea is
always a viable highway for the transport of goods.
In sum, I consider Lane’s sea simply an environment
 (50)  for human activity—nature no longer inviolate.
The luminescence that Lane paints symbolizes
nature’s humbled state, for the light itself is as
docile as the Luminist sea, and its tranquillity in a
sense signifies no more than good conditions on the
 (55)  highway to progress. Progress, probably even more
than transcendence, is the secret message of
Luminism. In a sense, Luminist pictures are an
ideological justification of the atmosphere
necessary for business, if also an exaggerated,
 (60)  idealistic rendering of that atmosphere.   1 
 1. The passage is primarily concerned with discussing

(A) the importance of religion to the art of a particular period
(B) the way one artist’s work illustrates a tradition of painting
(C) the significance of the sea in one artist’s work
(D) differences in the treatment of nature as a more active or a less active force
(E) variations in the artistic treatment of light among nineteenth-century landscape painters

2 
 2. The author argues that nature is portrayed in Lane’s pictures as

(A) wild and unexplored
(B) idealized and distant
(C) continually changing
(D) difficult to understand
(E) subordinate to human concerns

3 
 3. The passage contains information to suggest that the author would most probably agree with which one of the following statements?

(A) The prevailing religious principles of a given time can be reflected in the art of that time.
(B) In order to interest viewers, works of art must depict familiar subjects in detail.
(C) Because commerce is unusual as a subject in art, the painter of commercial activity must travel and observe it widely.
(D) Knowing about the environment in which an artist lived can aid in an understanding of a work by that artist.
(E) The most popular works of art at a given time are devoted to furthering economic or social progress.

4 
 4. According to the author, a supporter of the view of Luminism described in the first paragraph would most likely

(A) be unimpressed by the paintings’ glowing light
(B) consider Luminist scenes to be undomesticated and wild
(C) interpret the Luminist depiction of nature incorrectly
(D) see Luminist paintings as practical rather than mystical
(E) focus on the paintings’ subject matter instead of on atmosphere and light

5 
 5. According to the author, the sea is significant in Lane’s paintings because of its association with

(A) exploration
(B) commerce
(C) canals
(D) idealism
(E) mysticism

6 
 6. The author’s primary purpose is to

(A) refute a new theory
(B) replace an inadequate analysis
(C) summarize current critics’ attitudes
(D) support another critic’s evaluation
(E) describe the history of a misinterpretation

7 
 7. The author quotes a critic writing about Lane (lines 25–27) most probably in order to

(A) suggest that Luminism was the dominant of painting in the 1850s and 1860s
(B) support the idea that Lane was interested in spiritualism
(C) provide an example of the primary cultural factors that influenced the Luminists
(D) explain why the development of Luminism coincided with that of spiritualism
(E) illustrate a common misconception concerning an important characteristic of Lane’s paintings mode

auradediligodo · Accepted Answer

Hi everyone 
Took 12:55 minutes and got 6/7 correct. Took me 5:10 minutes to read, write down paragraphs summaries and main point.

P1: Introduction to luminism
P2: The correct view about luminism
P3:why trade and not spiritualism affected Lane's art
P4: Lane's view on art and Author's view on luminism

MP: To discuss luminism's features and factors affecting it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.  The passage is primarily concerned with discussing

Pre-thinking
 Refer to main point formulation above to analyze the answer choices

(A) the importance of religion to the art of a particular period
 Religion is never mentioned. Hence incorrect

(B) the way one artist’s work illustrates a tradition of painting
 The main focus of the passage is luminism and its features are discussed through Lane's work. Hence correct

(C) the significance of the sea in one artist’s work
 True but too narrow to encompass the entire passage. Therefore partial scope and incorrect

(D) differences in the treatment of nature as a more active or a less active force
 Seas are mentioned briefly in the last paragraph so they cannot convey the purpose of the all passage. Hence incorrect

(E) variations in the artistic treatment of light among nineteenth-century landscape painters
 No variation is discussed . Hence incorrect

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2.  The author argues that nature is portrayed in Lane’s pictures as

Pre-thinking
 We can refer to the last paragraph for pre-thinking this question. Lane's art describes nature as domesticate, as a means through which human can trade and do business. Even a storm won't scare humans since they think of nature as a domesticated entity.....

(A) wild and unexplored
 Opposite. And not just for Lane but for all luminists. Hence incorrect

(B) idealized and distant
 idealized nature is mentioned in the first paragraph but later on we see that this is the wrong view. Distant is never mentioned. Hence incorrect

(C) continually changing
 Never mentioned. Hence incorrect.

(D) difficult to understand
 Never mentioned. Hence incorrect.

(E) subordinate to human concerns
 In line with pre-thinking. Just refer to the storm example. Even with a storm at hand the sea would be seen as viable means for doing some trade. Hence correct

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3.  The passage contains information to suggest that the author would most probably agree with which one of the following statements?

Pre-thinking
 Since pre-thinking cannot be done let's evaluate the answer choices

(A) The prevailing religious principles of a given time can be reflected in the art of that time.
 Religious principles are never mentioned. Hence incorrect.

(B) In order to interest viewers, works of art must depict familiar subjects in detail.
 the intention of interesting viewers is never mentioned. Hence incorrect

(C) Because commerce is unusual as a subject in art, the painter of commercial activity must travel and observe it widely.
 Not a requirement. Lane did it but nowhere the author says that traveling is required. Hence incorrect

(D) Knowing about the environment in which an artist lived can aid in an understanding of a work by that artist.
 Refer to P3. Trade was an essential factor to the luminism movement. Hence correct

(E) The most popular works of art at a given time are devoted to furthering economic or social progress.
 This is too general. It might apply to luminism but the author does not think it can apply to other movements

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4.  According to the author, a supporter of the view of Luminism described in the first paragraph would most likely

Pre-thinking:
 Refer to the first paragraph

(A) be unimpressed by the paintings’ glowing light
 Cannot be inferred. Hence incorrect

(B) consider Luminist scenes to be undomesticated and wild
 opposite. Hence incorrect

(C) interpret the Luminist depiction of nature incorrectly
 The first paragraph depicts an incorrect view of Luminism as the second paragraph states. Hence correct

(D) see Luminist paintings as practical rather than mystical
 Opposite. Hence incorrect

(E) focus on the paintings’ subject matter instead of on atmosphere and light
 Never mentioned . Hence incorrect

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5.  According to the author, the sea is significant in Lane’s paintings because of its association with

Pre-thinking:
 Trade as explicitly stated in P4

(A) exploration
 Not trade. Hence incorrect

(B) commerce
 As mentioned in P4. Correct

(C) canals
 Not trade. Hence incorrect

(D) idealism
 Not trade. Hence incorrect

(E) mysticism
 Not trade. Hence incorrect

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6.  The author’s primary purpose is to

Pre-thinking
 Refer to main point formulation above

(A) refute a new theory
 No new theory is presented. The passage talks about the accepted theory. So this AC is inconsistent and incorrect

(B) replace an inadequate analysis
 The incorrect analysis is expressed in P1 and the rest of the passage contrasts it. Hence correct

(C) summarize current critics’ attitudes
 Not the purpose.Plus just one critic's view. Hence incorrect.

(D) support another critic’s evaluation
 The author does not support the critic view. So this choice is incorrect

(E) describe the history of a misinterpretation
 No such thing is described. Hence incorrect

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7.  The author quotes a critic writing about Lane (lines 25–27) most probably in order to

Pre-thinking:
 The author contrasts (note carefully the usage of  however ) the critic's view on luminism and spiritualism with the spread of trade during those years. While one might think that spiritualism influenced luminism, trade actually was the influencing factor.

(A) suggest that Luminism was the dominant of painting in the 1850s and 1860s
 Not the purpose. Hence incorrect

(B) support the idea that Lane was interested in spiritualism
 of course not. Hence incorrect

(C) provide an example of the primary cultural factors that influenced the Luminists
 The purpose is to correct the misconception that spiritualism affected luminism. Hence opposite

(D) explain why the development of Luminism coincided with that of spiritualism
 No such explanation is given. Plus from the information given we cannot infer which came first. Hence incorrect

(E) illustrate a common misconception concerning an important characteristic of Lane’s paintings mode
 In line with pre-thinking. Hence correct

It'a a good day to be alive, cheers!

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

5. According to the author, the sea is significant in Lane’s paintings because of its association with

Difficulty Level:   650

Explanation

Most of  Paras 3 and 4  explore the connection between the sea and commerce in Lane’s paintings.

(A), (C) “Exploration,” (A), and “canals,” (C) , are words that the author uses as part of his discussion of the link between the sea and commerce in Lane’s work. The author doesn’t contend that Lane himself associated the sea with either of these things.

(D), (E) “Idealism,” (D), and “mysticism,” (E) , are terms that those who subscribe to the traditional view of Luminist painting apply to this school in general.

• Never pick a choice simply because it uses the same words or phrases that the passage uses.

Answer: B

7. The author quotes a critic writing about Lane (lines 25–27) most probably in order to

Difficulty Level:   700

Explanation

The Contrast Keyword   “however” (line 28) , which comes immediately after the quote in question, indicates that the author has included this quote in order to  “illustrate a...misconception concerning a characteristic of Lane’s paintings.”  In particular, the author claims that Lane’s paintings reflect a growth in commerce rather than widespread religious fervor.

(A)  is beyond the scope of the passage, which doesn’t refer to non-Luminist painting.

(B)  Au contraire. The author includes the quote to help make the point that Lane was interested in commerce, not spiritualism.

(C)  The quote is included to point out a “cultural factor” that the author feels didn’t influence Luminist painting.

(D)  The author doesn’t discuss this correlation. Indeed, he denies an explicit link between Luminist painting and spiritual fervor.

• Questions often ask about the purpose, not the substance, of a detail—that’s one major reason why you’ve got to read for “sense.”

Answer: E

Hope it helps

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Passage road map

Topic and Scope:

Luminist painting; specifically, the interpretation of Luminist painting.

Purpose and Main Idea:

The author’s purpose is to offer a non-traditional interpretation of Luminist painting by examining the work of Fitz Hugh Lane; the author’s specific main idea is that, contrary to the accepted view, Luminist painting doesn’t present a spiritual and mystical view of untamed nature.

Paragraph Structure:

Para 1  presents the accepted view of Luminist painting. In  Para 2 , the author provides a counter interpretation, arguing that Luminist works actually portray man’s conquest and exploitation of nature.  Paras 3 and 4  illustrate the author’s view through a detailed examination of Lane’s landscapes. Essentially, what the author says is that Lane’s harbor views are meant to portray man’s domestication and exploitation of the sea for the purposes of expanding commerce.

• Yet another passage with a classic structure. Para 1 provides the accepted view of the topic, while Paras 2, 3, and 4 present a counter interpretation through an extended example.

• Since topic, scope, and purpose are evident early on, this passage is certainly one that should be tackled earlier rather than later in the section.

Explanation

1. The passage is primarily concerned with discussing

Difficulty Level:   700

Explanation

Paras 2, 3, and 4  describe the author’s perspective about Luminist painting, principally by analyzing the work of one artist, Fitz Hugh Lane.

(A)  The allegedly spiritual and mystical (or religious) nature of Luminist painting is discussed only in  Para 1 . Besides, this passage isn’t about art in general.

(C)  plays on a detail, mainly in  Para 4 . Luminist painting, not the sea, is the central theme of this passage.

(D)  focuses on a detail in  Para 1 .

(E)  is beyond the scope of the passage, which is about one particular school of 19th-century American landscape painters. The text isn’t about 19th-century landscape painters in general.

Answer: B

Hope it helps

zoezhuyan · Answer

dear  SajjadAhmad

I picked up C because “ "
However, OA is E, I have no idea how subordinate to human concerns equals to “nature is subdued.”

I didnot picked up C because the author points out that 
 
For me, it merely points out a drawback, but it doesn’t mean incorrect.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Hello  zoezhuyan

Why C is wrong in q#2?

“Continually changing”  is a phrase that the author might apply to pre-Luminist portrayals of nature.

Why E is correct?

In  lines 43-45 , the author says,  “For Lane the sea is...a canal or a trade route for commercial activity, not a free, powerful element.”  In  line 46 , he says  “For Lane, nature is subdued....”  In  line 49 , he says,  “I consider Lane’s sea simply an environment for human activity— nature no longer inviolate.”  Moreover, elsewhere in the passage, the author makes it clear that he believes that Luminist paintings portray man’s dominance of nature.

Answer: E

I didn't understand what you want to know for question #3 as OA for Q#3 is D but you are saying you haven't picked up C then what is your question?

Regards

zoezhuyan · Answer

I picked up B for Q3, because P1 says

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Why B is wrong?

(B)   is beyond the scope of the passage, which doesn’t concern itself with  “viewer interest.”  Besides, Luminist paintings are idealized, not highly detailed, landscapes.

Why D is correct?

In the last sentence of  para 3 , the author mentions that Lane lived near and travelled to various commercial ports. In  para 4 , the author suggests that this proximity accounts for Lane’s propensity to paint harbor scenes that reflect business themes.

Answer: D

Hope it helps

Hoozan · Answer

SajjadAhmad  please help me understand the following

I went through the official explanation but couldn't understand why (B) is correct

5. According to the author, the sea is significant in Lane’s paintings because of its association with

(A) exploration
(B) commerce
(C) canals
(D) idealism
(E) mysticism

The author mentions  trade ,  commercial activity  and  canal . He later also mentions  Luminist pictures are an
ideological justification of the atmosphere

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Read lines 33-35

In all of these places he painted the harbors with their ships—the instruments of expanding trade.

Lines 43-47

For Lane the sea is, in effect, a canal or a trade route for commercial activity, not a free, powerful element........ the sea is always a viable highway for the transport of goods.

All this text leads to the answer.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

6. The author’s primary purpose is to

Difficulty Level:   700

Explanation

Para 1  lays out the accepted interpretation of Luminist painting.  Paras 2, 3, and 4 , in contrast, are devoted to presenting an alternate interpretation, which, according to the author, is more accurate than the accepted interpretation.

(A)  First, the passage doesn’t discuss any  “theory.”  Second, the accepted interpretation of Luminist painting isn’t  “new.”   (C), (D)  The passage is primarily about the author’s interpretation of Luminist painting, not the attitudes,  (C) , or interpretations,  (D) , of critics in general. Both of these choices play on passage details.

(E)  The author briefly sets out what is considered to be a wrongheaded interpretation of Luminist painting, but the history of that interpretation is never probed.

In global questions, abstractly-phrased choices needn’t pose a problem. Simply summarize the contents of each para and look for the corresponding choice.

Answer: B

Harsh2111s · Answer

VeritasKarishma   AndrewN

Please explain How the earlier analysis is "inadequate"?
The author perception is just different from others.
"Inadequate" is strong word to put here.

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  Harsh2111s . I agree that  inadequate  is a strong word, but that is just the view that the author of the passage presents, regarding the  accepted view of Luminist paintings . This notion is no better expressed than in the topic sentence of paragraph two:

What this view  fails to do  is to identify the true
significance of this transcendental atmosphere in
Luminist paintings.

A failure is an inadequacy. As for the other keyword of the answer,  replace , the summary in lines 49-60— In sum, I consider...  (and here is why)—fully supports the idea that the author of the passage aims to convince others of the merits of a less accepted view. That is, the author wishes to reveal the  secret message of Luminism  through this new interpretation.

I hope that helps. Thank you for calling my attention to the passage.

- Andrew

KarishmaB · Answer

Why do you think 'strong' words are not allowed on GMAT? All you need to see is whether the word is justified in the context.

If an argument tells you - "Hence, it will rain tomorrow." the conclusion will be "it will rain tomorrow". You cannot say that "will" is too strong a word and the conclusion should be "it may rain tomorrow". It is for the author to decide how strong a statement he/she wishes to make. You only need to see what statement he/she is making.

Here the author tells us about the view of Luminist paintings and then talks about its failings/shortcomings/inadequacies.

The accepted view of Luminist paintings is
... According to this view, ...

What this view fails to do is to identify the true
significance of this transcendental atmosphere in
Luminist paintings.

A532 · Answer

hi  Sajjad1994  ,

right now i am completing the passage LSAT ( 700 level )passages in 16 - 18 minutes with 8- 10 minutes taken as reading time and the rest for awnsering the questions , with a accuracy of 70 % to 100 %. can you please suggest the recommended timing and accuracy level solving such questions , if i want a v44 or 90th percentile in GMAT RC.

Thankyou

Sajjad1994 · Answer

8-10 minutes is more than the average time for just reading the passage, I think one should read a short passage in 2.5 to 3 minutes and a long passage in 4-5 minutes. The rest of the time should be invested in answering the questions and you can go back to read the passage again as per the requirement of the question.

There is no fix answer to your question of how much accuracy is required to get a V44 but a rough idea is that you should get 100% of easy questions correct, 80% of medium questions correct, and 70% of hard questions correct to get a score of V40+. Again there is no hard and fast rule to measure the test algorithm here but this is just a rough idea based on my own experience.

Good luck!

aish7 · Answer

GMATNinja  
 Sajjad1994

I chose E for  Q1. The passage is primarily concerned with discussing 
However the answer is B, 
When I feed the passage to chatGPT and ask the same question that also results in ans E

This happens a lot to me, I chose a passage summary which is wrong, but when I feed it to GPT, that comes with the exact same answer. What am I doing wrong every time?

GMATNinja · Answer

Which version of chatGPT are you using? GPT-4 is a serious step up on these kinds of questions -- you can check out the graph on page 6 of  this document  for details. GPT-3.5 is at about the 40th percentile on the LSAT, while GPT-4 is at about the 90th percentile.

Basically, don't trust GPT-3.5, and even with GPT-4 you should remain a bit skeptical. And sometimes,  GPT-style AI models can actually get worse over time .

For broad questions: the way to get an accurate sense of the passage overall is to ask yourself why the author wrote each paragraph, and how those paragraphs connect to one another.

As an example, this is how you could articulate the "why" of each paragraph for this passage:

Then, use the process of elimination to move through the answer choices.

Here's (E):

There are a couple of issues with (E). First, the author tells us that "the Luminists are distinguished by their focus on atmosphere and light." So, he/she isn't talking about a whole bunch of variations in the treatment of light from  different  painters -- the only people that really care about light are the Luminists.

Second, while the author does briefly offer a (non-light-related) contrast between the Luminists and other painters, we don't know that those painters were around during the 19th century, as specified by (E). We just know that they painted "earlier" than the Luminists.

Eliminate (E) for question 1.

I hope that helps!

kartickdey · Answer

out of the four paragraphs, one artist's work has been mentioned only in two paragraphs. how can it be the primary point of discussion?

egmat · Answer

Your Question:  Lane only appears in 2-3 paragraphs. How can he be the "primary" focus?

The Answer:  You're counting NAME mentions, but you should be looking at FUNCTION.

Here's how the passage actually works: 
 Paragraphs 1-2:  "Here's what Luminism is, and here's my NEW interpretation of it" ↓ 
 Paragraphs 3-5:  "Let me PROVE my interpretation using Lane's paintings"

The first two paragraphs aren't separate from Lane -they're the SETUP that makes the Lane discussion meaningful.

Analogy:  If I write an essay arguing "Social media harms teenagers," I might spend the first half defining the problem and the second half using Instagram as my example. 
The essay is ABOUT how Instagram illustrates the social media problem - even though Instagram isn't mentioned until halfway through.

The whole passage = Author's view of Luminism, illustrated through Lane

In the history of nineteenth-century landscape painting in the United

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Reading Comprehension (RC) Questions

In the history of nineteenth-century landscape painting in the United

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards