Q8

[andrewgong01]

Can someone verify my understanding for the main point because I intially chose "D" for this ?

PrePhase: Author talks about Gray and covers an expansive collection of Gray's work. Lines 2-5 may be a good prephase. Lacquer was brought up but not really focused on in passage beyond it as an influence for other things. Frankly, I am still confused on what exactly the lacquer influence was or even what P2 means beyond it as a description of her art, which focuses on simplicity, austere and hidden details.

A) All sounds good until "yet prevented her from garnering acclaim". The passage never mentioned this (if acclaim was given); hence it is out of scope

B) I intially avoided this because i thought it was too narrow and off when it said her work in lacquer influenced a lot of things but in hindsight the passage does seem to talk about the lacquer being a recurring influence... Moreover, even though I still do not know fully what made her art unique, the idea of interior and exterior distinctions being blurred was something stated in P3 and "Wholeness" of art sounds P2.

C) "best known for her use of steel" is contradicted in the passage, she is best known for lacquer (Line 1). "C" also just reads off and seems to be too narrow in its focus on austerity and functionality

D)My intial choice cause the first part sounded good but I think it is wrong cause it says "making it readily identifiable". We do not know if her work was that distinct; we just know she is best known for lacquer, which was rather different from the prevailing Art Nouveau Movement. Also, it seems like , if anything, her lacquer work would be readily identifiable and not anything else. However, the passage does not really talk about the reception of her works for us to really know much

E) "eventual dissatisfaction with Japanese traditional art"? Unsupported. If anything Gray liked it as her later work in architecture also drew on lacquer traditions, a japanese tradition.


It seems like Wrong to Right would have allowed us to get to the answer better because "B" sounds confusing whereas A and D sound like B until the final part of Choice A and Choice D that includes some out of scope Info.

[LaurenP895]

I was deciding between B and D as well and I chose B over D because "all" was too much in my opinion and "readily identifiable" stuck out to me because of line 22 "...critical but not always apparent" and I also did not like how it had no mention of lacquer which to me was an underlying component of her work.

Another thing that I just noticed is it says "her distinctive style" but the first paragraph said it was of Japanese tradition

(I am not sure that this is the reason to eliminate D for sure but it's why I did)

When I was doing this timed I had it narrowed down between those two and i circled it and came back to it after doing the other questions and that made me more confident in choosing B. I hope this helps!!!

[AmyH231]

I got this right initially and then wrong in blind review. While this is marked as "easy" I found it to be quite challenging. D is quickly tempting because in the first paragraph we have the line 5-8 "Though her attention shifted from smaller objects to the very large, she always focused on details, even details that were forever hidden," and in the third paragraph we have lines 47-48 "But in architecture we discover the hidden layers." So we could argue that her style was characterized by the hidden. But this doesn't seem to encapsulate the whole passage, and I'm not sure I would go as far as to say the passage supports the idea of her work as "readily identifiable." If we consider the passage map:

P1: Gray has a varied artistic career, studies lacquer in Paris, this fits well with her sensibilities, which is anti-Nouveau
P2: Lacquer is used on both sides, it is a structural requirement. Gray produces panels, then goes to doors and screens, which reveals more of the artist's work (implied: when using lacquer). Begins furniture design and new materials
P3: Lacquer and interior design influences her architecture. Interior and exterior should be designed together (much like lacquering on both sides, she designs an inside and an outside). "Architecture for her was like work in lacquer: it could only be achieved from the inside out....as though to underscore that there is no important distinction between exterior and interior."

The main thread through these paragraphs is Gray's work with lacquer and how it influenced her other mediums--the idea of designing a whole, with an inside and outside, back and front etc. So, B is the answer because it includes these two points and doesn't add anything wrong.