Try a Sample Reading Comprehension Passage: Cameron's Pictures

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Test 73, Passage 2 - Cameron's Pictures

From a critical discussion of the work of Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.

What Cameron called her “fancy-subject” pictures—photographs in which two or more costumed sitters enacted, under Cameron’s direction, scenes from the Bible, mythology, Shakespeare, or Tennyson— bear unmistakable traces of the often comical conditions under which they were taken. In many respects they have more connection to the family album pictures of recalcitrant relatives who have been herded together for the obligatory group picture than they do to the masterpieces of Western painting. In Raphael and Giotto there are no infant Christs whose faces are blurred because they moved, or who are looking at the viewer with frank hatred. These traces, of course, are what give the photographs their life and charm. If Cameron had succeeded in her project of making seamless works of illustrative art, her work would be among the curiosities of Victorian photography—like Oscar Gustave Rejlander’s extravagantly awful The Two Ways of Life—rather than among its most vital images.

It is precisely the camera’s realism—its stubborn obsession with the surface of things—that has given Cameron’s theatricality and artificiality its atmosphere of truth. It is the truth of the sitting, rather than the fiction which all the dressing up was in aid of, that wafts out of these wonderful and strange, not-quite-in-focus photographs. They are what they are: pictures of housemaids and nieces and husbands and village children who are dressed up as Mary Madonnas and infant Jesuses and John the Baptists and Lancelots and Guineveres and trying desperately hard to sit still. The way each sitter endures his or her ordeal is the collective action of the photograph, its “plot” so to speak. When we look at a narrative painting we can suspend our disbelief; when we look at a narrative photograph we cannot. We are always aware of the photograph’s doubleness—of each figure’s imaginary and real personas. Theater can transcend its doubleness, can make us believe (for at least some of the time) that we are seeing only Lear or Medea. Still photographs of theatrical scenes can never escape being pictures of actors.

What gives Cameron’s pictures of actors their special quality—their status as treasures of photography of an unfathomably peculiar sort—is their singular combination of amateurism and artistry. In The Passing of Arthur, for example, the mast and oar of the makeshift boat representing a royal barge are obviously broomsticks and the water is white muslin drapery. But these details are insignificant. For once, the homely truth of the sitting gives right of place to the romantic fantasy of its director. The picture, a night scene, is magical and mysterious. While Cameron’s fancy-subject pictures have been compared to poor amateur theatricals, The Passing of Arthur puts one in mind of good amateur theatricals one has seen, and recalls with shameless delight.

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Question 8

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?

A

The circumstances under which Cameron's fancy-subject pictures were taken render them unintentionally comical.

B

The peculiar charm of Cameron's fancy-subject pictures derives from the viewer's simultaneous awareness of the fictional scene portrayed and the circumstances of its portrayal.

C

The implicit claim of Cameron's fancy-subject pictures to comparison with the masterpieces of Western painting is undermined by the obtrusiveness of the sitters.

D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPdjHl0Vq80

The most successful of Cameron's fancy-subject pictures from an aesthetic point of view are those in which the viewer is completely unaware that the sitters are engaged in role playing.

E

The interest of Cameron's fancy-subject pictures consists in what they tell us about the sitters and not in the imaginary scenes they portray.

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Question 9

The author mentions the props employed in The Passing of Arthur as

A

examples of amateurish aspects of the work

B

evidence of the transformative power of theater

C

testimonies to Cameron's ingenuity

D

indications that the work is intended ironically

E

support for a negative appraisal of the work

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Question 10

Which one of the following, if true, would most help to explain the claim about suspension of disbelief?

A

Sitting for a painting typically takes much longer than sitting for a photograph.

B

Paintings, unlike photographs, can depict obviously impossible situations.

C

All of these sitters for a painting do not have to be present at the same time.

D

A painter can suppress details about a sitter that are at odds with an imaginary persona.

E

Paintings typically bear the stylistic imprint of an artist, school, or period.

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Question 11

Based on the passage, Cameron is most like which one of the following in relation to her fancy-subject pictures?

A

a playwright who introduces incongruous elements to preserve an aesthetic distance between characters and audience

B

a rap artist whose lyrics are designed to subvert the meaning of a song sampled in his recording

C

a sculptor whose works possess a certain grandeur even though they are clearly constructed out of ordinary objects

D

an architect whose buildings are designed to be as functional as possible

E

a film director who employs ordinary people as actors in order to give the appearance of a documentary

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Question 12

Based on the passage, the author would agree with each of the following statements EXCEPT:

A

A less realistic medium can be more conducive to suspension of disbelief than a more realistic medium.

B

Amateurishness is a positive quality in some works of art.

C

What might appear to be an incongruity in narrative photograph can actually enhance its aesthetic value.

D

We are sometimes aware of both the real and the imaginary persona of an actor in a drama.

E

A work of art succeeds only to the extent that it realizes the artist's intentions.

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Question 13

The passage provides the most support for inferring that in Cameron's era

A

there was little interest in photographs documenting contemporary life

B

photography was practiced mainly by wealthy amateurs

C

publicity stills of actors were coming into vogue

D

there were no professional artist's models

E

the time required to take a picture was substantial

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Question 14

The discussion of suspension of disbelief in the second paragraph serves which one of the following purposes?

A

It is the main conclusion of the passage, for which the discussion of Cameron's fancy-subject pictures serves as a case study.

B

It introduces a contrast the author uses in characterizing the peculiar nature of our response to Cameron's fancy-subject pictures.

C

It is the key step in an argument supporting the author's negative appraisal of the project of narrative photography.

D

It is used to explain a criticism of Cameron's fancy-subject pictures that the author shows to be conceptually confused.

E

It draws a contrast between narrative painting and drama to support the author's conclusion that Cameron's fancy-subject pictures are more like the former.

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Question 15

The main purpose of the passage is

A

to chronicle Cameron's artistic development as a photographer, which culminated in her masterpiece The Passing of Arthur

B

to argue that the tension between Cameron's aims and the results she achieved in some of her works enhances the works' aesthetic value

C

to show that Cameron's essentially theatrical vision accounts for both the strengths and the weaknesses of her photographic oeuvre

D

to explain why Cameron's project of acquiring for photography the prestige accorded to painting was doomed to failure

E

to defend Cameron's masterpiece The Passing of Arthur against its detractors by showing that it transcends the homelydetails of its setting

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Why does the author waste our time with this? They want to convince us that Cameron’s pictures are “wonderful” and “special” because of their peculiar “combination of amateurism and artistry.”

ANo, the author’s purpose isn’t to chronicle the history of Cameron’s career.

BYes, the author praises Cameron’s “combination of amateurism and artistry” and goes on to say, “For once, the homely truth of the sitting gives right of place to the romantic fantasy of its director.”

CNo, the passage compares Cameron’s works to theatricals, but it doesn’t claim that she had “theatrical vision,” nor does it discuss “weaknesses of her photographic ouevre.”

DNo, the author considers Cameron’s pictures “treasures of photography,” not “doomed to failure.”

ENo, the passage never even mentions detractors of The Passing of Arthur.