Reading comp PrepTest 103 · Section 4 · Question 8

Topic: Humanities

Paragraph 1

• Paragraph note
  • James Porter researched and wrote about the African influence evident in the work of African American artists.
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Porter was the first to identify the African influence on visual art in the Americas (first sentence)
  • Porter studied African American crafts of the 1700s and 1800s and found West African influences (third-fourth sentences)
  • Author’s attitude: “first scholar” (first sentence); “much of what is known” (first sentence); “research revealed” (third sentence); “linked them iconographically” (third sentence); “establish clearly” (fourth sentence)

Paragraph 2

• Paragraph note
  • Porter published a book that was the first of its kind in 1943 tracing the African influences on African American art.
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Part of Porter’s book showed that Robert S. Duncanson and Joshua Johnston, painters of the Hudson River School, were of African ancestry (first-third sentences)
  • Alain LeRoy Locke, a fellow professor, had written two other books by 1943 devoted to African American art, but his books didn’t trace African precursors like Porter’s did (fifth-seventh sentences)
  • Porter was careful in his own art to refer to the cultural history of African peoples (eighth sentence)
  • Author’s attitude: “commonly thought” (second sentence); “proved definitively” (third sentence); “comprehensive volume” (fourth sentence); “only two other books” (fifth sentence); “neither addressed the critical issue” (seventh sentence); “painstakingly integrating” (seventh sentence); “especially attuned” (eighth sentence); “conscious effort” (eighth sentence); “extensive knowledge” (eighth sentence)

Paragraph 3

• Paragraph note
  • Porter’s later accomplishments included tracing the biographical details of African American artists, revising his 1943 book, and making extensive notes for an unfinished work dealing with the influence of African art on the art of the Western world.
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Porter revised and expanded his 1943 book (first sentence)
  • Porter determined the birth year of painter Patrick Reason, and identified a grave in San Francisco as that of sculptor Edmonia Lewis (second sentence)
  • Porter left extensive notes for an unfinished work dealing with the influence of African art on the art of the Western world (third sentence)
  • Author’s attitude: “constantly revising and correcting” (first sentence); “later achievements” (second sentence); “definitive reckoning” (second sentence); “extensive notes” (third sentence); “riches” (third sentence)

Main Point: Painter and historian James Porter pioneered the study of how African influences can be discerned in the work of African American artists.

Paragraph 1, Sentence 1 (P1 S1) - Importance of James Porter’s work

P2 S7 - Why Porter’s work was groundbreaking

P3 S3 - Scope of unfinished work

Innovative Subject: This passage uses an Innovative Subject Meta-Structure. The author introduces artist and art historian James Porter as the first scholar to trace the African influences evident in African American art. Porter’s work was groundbreaking because only one other academic had written about African American art at the time when Porter published his book on the subject, and Porter was the first scholar to write about African iconography in African American art. His later work laid the foundation for exploring how African art influenced Western art more generally.

The author’s perspective is evident throughout the passage. The author admires Porter’s work, innovative scholarship, and painstaking research. The author is also at pains to point out how Porter’s own artistic background played into his research and made the enterprise of documenting the lives of African American artists more personal (P2 S8, P3 S2).

This passage makes an argument for the historical importance of a scholar’s work. There are no views presented in the passage to oppose the author’s perspective, and the strongest voice in the passage is the author’s. This fact makes understanding and tracing the argument made relatively straightforward; there are no nuances of viewpoint or argument to keep track of.