Q18

[danitay]

Hi! Could you just confirm whether I'm on the right track with this one or not? Muchas gracias!

B is wrong because: nowhere in the passage does it say that Noguchi had no formal scientific training

E is wrong because: Noguchi's work reveals the value of scientific thinking in the arts but doesn't reveal anything about the value of aesthetic approaches to scientific inquiry

D is right because: the last paragraph confirms that Noguchi remained true to his inquisitive nature (addressing aesthetic questions), and as soon as he got recognition for the invisible art, he "proceeded to the next phase of his evolution"

[noah]

I hereby deem your explanations "spot on"

Noguchi would be proud, and then he'd move on.

[skapur777]

Why is (E) wrong?

I'm assuming it has to do with the second part, "the value of aesthetic approaches to scientific inquiry"

I guess I just don't really understand the word 'aesthetic' but what would be an example of an aesthetic approach to science?

[giladedelman]

Thanks for posting.

Even though you were stuck on the meaning of "aesthetic," you still could have gotten rid of (E). Why? Because the passage has nothing to do with any approaches to scientific inquiry. Rather, it deals with how Noguchi brought a scientific mindset to his art.

Anyway, "aesthetic" means concerned with the beauty of something. If something is aesthetically pleasing, it means we find it beautiful.

(A) is incorrect because the passage never indicates that other sculptors had tried to overcome this problem.

(B) is out because we don't know whether he had scientific training or not.

(C) is incorrect because the passage doesn't compare the relative influence of Brancusi and Fuller.

That leaves us with (D), which is correct because we know Noguchi was interested in addressing such questions, including the issue of positive light, and we also know he wasn't too concerned with being consistent -- in fact, we're told he moved on to different things once he made his big discovery.

Does that answer your question?

[oceangirl182]

Hmm, the thing that turned me off of D) was the "maintaining a consistent artistic style"...although I agreed that he was more interested in addressing fundamental aesthetic questions, nowhere in the passage did it suggest that his use of different mediums/exploring different aesthetic questions meant that he didn't still retain some consistent style...so I ended up choosing C

[daniel]

Hmm, the thing that turned me off of D) was the "maintaining a consistent artistic style"...although I agreed that he was more interested in addressing fundamental aesthetic questions, nowhere in the passage did it suggest that his use of different mediums/exploring different aesthetic questions meant that he didn't still retain some consistent style...so I ended up choosing C

I kind of had the same thought, but (C) is tricky, in a way, because it states the relative importance of Fuller and Brancusi with respect to "the importance of negative light." If it had said "the importance of positive light," then you could probably make a case for (C), even though the passage does not compare the role played by these two guys. One could argue that Fuller encouraged the exploration of positive-light sculpture by turning Noguchi on to the idea of using chrome; without that suggestion, it is possible that Noguchi would never have made his breakthrough.

[agm263]

Hi, could someone explain to me why C is the correct answer. Nowhere in the text is the concept of negative light equated with a fundamental aesthetic question. In fact it appears to me to be more of a practical, materials question. In trying to overcome the use of negative light in traditional sculpture he had to find a new material, thus allowing him to move beyond the limitations of the old materials. This to me does not have anything to do with fundamental aesthetic questions but more to do with materials and their limitations. I've always regarded aesthetics with the various judgements etc. that we form when examining art, objects and so forth. The negative light idea was not due to any aesthetic properties but due to the lack of any materials that could do otherwise. Thanks

[tommywallach]

D is the correct answer.

[HadisA912]

Hi,

(E) is wrong because it mentions two things:

1.Value of scientific in arts
2. Asthetic approaches to scientific inquiry

We have evidence for 1., but where in the text is asthetics used for science? Nowhere -> (D)