LSAT 107, Section 2, RC Passage 1, Artists

RC Passage 1 Explanation

This is an explanation for passage 1 of LSAT preptest 29, the October 1999 LSAT. This passage is about the work of pre-World War One painting was prophetic. The author argues the painters were more concerned with stylistic innovations than prophecy.

This section has paragraph summaries and an analysis of the passage, links to the explanations for the questions are below.

Paragraph Summaries

1. Artistic break with tradition.
2. One critic claims the artists have prophetic power.
3. Main viewpoint: stylistic innovations are important, not prophecy.
4. Support for main viewpoint: Delacroix didn’t predict the future, he reacted to the past.

Analysis

The most important thing to understand is that the author uses the third and fourth paragraphs to argue against the opinion from the second paragraph. The author doesn’t think the artists are important because they were prophetic. He thinks their stylistic innovations are the most important thing.