Reading comp PrepTest 115 · Section 3 · Question 1

Topic: Humanities

Paragraph 1

• Paragraph note
  • Background on Mexican muralist art movement (sponsored by the post-revolutionary Mexican state; three artists' goals).
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Contrast drawn between the ideological basis of muralism and the theoretical/artistic basis:
    • Ideologically, muralism had a close connection to the Mexican government and traditional culture, but its principal artists, Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, and Jose Clemente Orozco, sought to comment commented on the time period and culture (first through last sentences)
  • Author's attitude: "closely linked ideologically" (first sentence), "ambitious cultural program" (second sentence); "Mexico's richness and possibility" (second sentence); "was formulated by the artists themselves" (third sentence); "major figures" (fourth sentence)

Paragraph 2

• Paragraph note
  • Author's view on muralists' innovations (not just political; freer expression than traditional muralists)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Author's view:
    • The author implies that there is an established view of the muralists as mere producers of state-sponsored art with little artistic merit; the author asserts that this view is wrong (second sentence)
  • Example of artistic innovation:
    • Muralists' works depicted traditional subjects in a freer way than previous artists working in the realist style (last sentence)
  • Author's attitude: "mistake" (first sentence), "reduce" (first sentence), "more than merely" (second sentence); "important innovations" (second sentence), "freer in expression" (fourth sentence)

Paragraph 3

• Paragraph note
  • Author's support (distinct artistic styles/innovations of Siqueiros, Rivera, and Orozco)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • List of innovations developed by each artist:
    • Rivera: incorporated Renaissance and pre-Columbian elements; depicted people as mechanical shapes (second sentence)
    • Orozco: used expressionism and diagonal lines (third and fourth sentences)
    • Siqueiros: used asymmetry, action, and bold colors (last sentence)
  • Author's attitude: "distinct styles" (first sentence), "incorporated" (second sentence), "strange combination" (second sentence); "openly emotional" (third sentence), "strong diagonal" (fourth sentence), "heightened movement and drama" (fourth sentence); "brilliant color" (last sentence)

Paragraph 4

• Paragraph note
  • Author's explanation of innovations (caused by large scale of the mural form)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Cause-and-effect relationship
    • Murals, with their physically larger area to cover than the canvases the artists had been used to, caused innovations (first through last sentences)
  • Examples of the ways the mural medium led to innovations:
    • Murals allowed for sweeping brushstrokes and thus more impactful images (second sentence)
    • Large area in which viewers can see murals led to bolder artistic statements designed to strike the viewer from many angles (last sentence)
  • Author's attitude: "experimentation" (first sentence); "can be seen as" (first sentence); "bold effect" (second sentence), "equally strong impact" (last sentence)

Main Point: State-sponsored Mexican muralism was inspired by Mexican traditions and history but provided an opportunity for multiple artistic innovations.

Paragraph 1, Sentence 1 (P1, S1) - Introduces muralism and ties to the Mexican government

P1, S3 - Names prominent mural painters

P2, S2 - Asserts that muralism allowed for artistic innovations

P4, S1 - Author's explanation of muralism's innovations

Innovative Subject: This passage utilizes the Innovative Subject Meta-Structure. The author asserts that Mexican muralism was a highly innovative artistic movement that allowed painters to move beyond realism. The author contrasts this assertion with the belief that muralists merely provided state-sponsored propaganda reflecting Mexico's post-Revolution political ideology by focusing on traditional and historical subjects. Although the muralists painted traditional, cultural, and historical representations of Mexico, the author argues that the muralists' style was new, a result of unique influences (from pre-Columbian, to Italian Renaissance, to expressionism) and the huge size of the mural form itself.

The main point in an Innovative Subject passage is the author's opinion on the subject's innovations. In this passage, the author claims Mexican muralism was significant, in part, for the new artistic techniques that the three prominent muralists — Rivera, Orozco, and Siqueiros — deployed.

This passage is straightforward in terms of the structure of the author's argument. The author offers their conclusion in the second paragraph and provides support in the third and fourth paragraphs.

What's the first paragraph doing, then? It's setting up the rest of the passage. In the passage, the author makes a key distinction between the initial impetus of the muralist movement and its innovations. The first paragraph, then, describes the movement's initial impetus. The movement was initially meant to express Mexican heritage and traditions following the Mexican Revolution. And the muralists started their work with the same premise: to use familiar images and ideas to comment on the present. The rest of the passage contrasts the familiar, state-sponsored beginnings of the movement with the stylistic innovations the artists would later initiate. The artists' innovations arose naturally from their artistic knowledge and from the new experience of painting on a scale much larger than they had used before. The author thus contrasts the old/traditional with the new/innovative in this passage.