Quote:
Well-established artists usually sell their work through a gallery on an exclusive representation arrangement. Whenever an artist gets a contract for an exhibition in a public museum, his fee is negotiated by whatever gallery represents him. The gallery always demands fifty percent of the artist's fee, even though the exhibition will not be on their premises, will not require their services, and will not result in sales of works by the particular artist. This fifty percent fee is clearly a tariff that allows the galleries to use their stellar clients to make money for themselves. It is unfair to both the artist and the public.
Which of the following would be most useful for investigating the claim made above?
A. knowledge of the support and services offered by galleries to struggling and unknown artists
B. the cost of time spent by the gallery in making arrangements for the museum exhibitions
C. the length of time during which the artist's works are left on display in the museum
D. the amount of money the museum is willing to spend on advertising the exhibit
E. the actual dollar amount of the average artist's fee for having works displayed in a museum exhibition
KAPLAN OFFICIAL EXPLANATIONIdentify the Question Type:
This is an Evaluation question, asking what evidence, if provided, would help in "investigating" the argument. That means the correct answer will address the assumption. If the assumption is true, the argument is strong; if the assumption is false, the argument is weak.
Untangle the Stimulus:
The conclusion in the stimulus is that the gallery's 50% fee for getting artists into museum exhibitions is just self-serving and benefits neither the artist nor the public. The evidence is that the gallery has nothing to do with the exhibition itself.
Predict the Answer:
While the gallery is not directly involved with the museum exhibition itself, there may be other ways in which the gallery is earning its 50% fee. The author just assumes the gallery is adding no value. To investigate the author's claim, the correct answer must address whether or not the gallery is doing anything useful that could benefit the artist or the public.
Evaluate the Choices:
(B) correctly investigates the extent of a service provided by the gallery. If the gallery spends a great deal of time making arrangements for an exhibition, then the fee may be justified on that basis. If it does not, then the fee may be shown to be unjustified.
(A) discusses the gallery, but focuses on struggling and unknown artists, who are beyond the scope of the stimulus, which is concerned with “well-established artists”
(C) and (D) erroneously focus on the services provided by the museum, rather than the gallery. Presumably these services would be available without paying a fee to the gallery.
(E) focuses on the actual dollar amount, which does nothing to investigate whether the fee is unfair or not.
TAKEAWAY: When asked to investigate a claim, consider the argument as a whole and look for an answer choice that questions one of the author's central assumptions.