In the History of Nineteenth-Century Landscape Painting in the United States, the Luminists are Distinguished by their Focus on Atmosphere and Light.

Reading Passage Question

In the history of nineteenth-century landscape painting in the United States, the Luminists are distinguished by their focus on atmosphere and light. The accepted view of Luminist paintings is

(5) that they are basically spiritual and imply a tranquil mysticism that contrasts with earlier American artists’ concept of nature as dynamic and energetic. According to this view, the Luminist atmosphere, characterized by “pure and constant light,” guides

(10) the onlooker toward a lucid transcendentalism, an idealized vision of the world.

What this view fails to do is to identify the true significance of this transcendental atmosphere in Luminist paintings. The prosaic factors that are

(15) revealed by a closer examination of these works suggest that the glowing appearance of nature in Luminism is actually a sign of nature’s domestication, its adaptation to human use. The idealized Luminist atmosphere thus seems to

(20) convey, not an intensification of human responses to nature, but rather a muting of those emotions, like awe and fear, which untamed nature elicits.

One critic, in describing the spiritual quality of harbor scenes by Fitz Hugh Lane, an important

(25) Luminist, carefully notes that “at the peak of Luminist development in the 1850s and 1860s, spiritualism in America was extremely widespread.” It is also true, however, that the 1850s and 1860s were a time of trade expansion. From 1848 until his

(30) death in 1865, Lane lived in a house with a view of the harbor of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and he made short trips to Maine, New York, Baltimore, and probably Puerto Rico. In all of these places he painted the harbors with their ships—the

(35) instruments of expanding trade.

Lane usually depicts places like New York Harbor, with ships at anchor, but even when he

depicts more remote, less commercially active harbors, nature appears pastoral and domesticated

(40) rather than primitive or unexplored. The ships, rather than the surrounding landscapes—including the sea—are generally the active element in his pictures. For Lane, the sea is, in effect, a canal or a trade route for commercial activity, not a free,

(45) powerful element, as it is in the early pictures of his predecessor, Cole. For Lane nature is subdued, even when storms are approaching; thus, the sea is always a viable highway for the transport of goods. In sum, I consider Lane’s sea simply an environment

(50) for human activity—nature no longer inviolate. The luminescence that Lane paints symbolizes nature’s humbled state, for the light itself is as docile as the Luminist sea, and its tranquillity in a sense signifies no more than good conditions on the

(55) highway to progress. Progress, probably even more than transcendence, is the secret message of Luminism. In a sense, Luminist pictures are an ideological justification of the atmosphere necessary for business, if also an exaggerated,

(60) idealistic rendering of that atmosphere.

“In the history of nineteenth-century landscape painting in the United States, the Luminists are distinguished by their focus on atmosphere and light.”- this is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.

This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 7 comprehension questions. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for the purpose of testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analysing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solution and Explanation

Question 1: The passage is primarily concerned with discussing

(A) the importance of religion to the art of a particular period
(B) the way one artist’s work illustrates a tradition of painting
(C) the significance of the sea in one artist’s work
(D) differences in the treatment of nature as a more active or a less active force
(E) variations in the artistic treatment of light among nineteenth-century landscape painters

Question 2: The author argues that nature is portrayed in Lane’s pictures as

(A) wild and unexplored
(B) idealized and distant
(C) continually changing
(D) difficult to understand
(E) subordinate to human concerns

Question 3: The passage contains information to suggest that the author would most probably agree with which one of the following statements?

(A) The prevailing religious principles of a given time can be reflected in the art of that time.
(B) In order to interest viewers, works of art must depict familiar subjects in detail.
(C) Because commerce is unusual as a subject in art, the painter of commercial activity must travel and observe it widely.
(D) Knowing about the environment in which an artist lived can aid in an understanding of a work by that artist.
(E) The most popular works of art at a given time are devoted to furthering economic or social progress.

Question 4: According to the author, a supporter of the view of Luminism described in the first paragraph would most likely

(A) be unimpressed by the paintings’ glowing light
(B) consider Luminist scenes to be undomesticated and wild
(C) interpret the Luminist depiction of nature incorrectly
(D) see Luminist paintings as practical rather than mystical
(E) focus on the paintings’ subject matter instead of on atmosphere and light

Question 5: According to the author, the sea is significant in Lane’s paintings because of its association with

(A) exploration
(B) commerce
(C) canals
(D) idealism
(E) mysticism

Question 6: The author’s primary purpose is to

(A) refute a new theory
(B) replace an inadequate analysis
(C) summarize current critics’ attitudes
(D) support another critic’s evaluation
(E) describe the history of a misinterpretation

Question 7: The author quotes a critic writing about Lane (lines 25–27) most probably in order to

(A) suggest that Luminism was the dominant of painting in the 1850s and 1860s
(B) support the idea that Lane was interested in spiritualism
(C) provide an example of the primary cultural factors that influenced the Luminists
(D) explain why the development of Luminism coincided with that of spiritualism
(E) illustrate a common misconception concerning an important characteristic of Lane’s paintings mode

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