Please help on this one

[ssgmatter]

The figures in portraits by the Spanish painter El Greco (1541-1614) are systematically elongated. In El Greco's time, the intentional distortion of the human figures was unprecedented in European Painting. Consequently, some critics have suggested that El greco had an astigmatism, a type of visual impairment, that resulted in people appearing to him in the distorted way that is charateristic of his paintings. However, this suggestion cannot be the explanation, because _______________________

a. Several twentieth century artists have consciously adopted from El greco's paintings the systematic elongation of the human form

b.some people do have elongated bodies somewhat like those depicted in El greco's portraits

c.If El greco had an astigmatism, then, relative to how people looked to him, the elongated figures in his paintings would have appeared to him to be distorted

d.even if El greco had an astigmatism, there would have been no correction for it available in the period in which he lived.

e.there were non-europen artists even in El greco's time who included in their works human figures that were intentionally distorted.

[harsh.champ]

The figures in portraits by the Spanish painter El Greco (1541-1614) are systematically elongated. In El Greco's time, the intentional distortion of the human figures was unprecedented in European Painting. Consequently, some critics have suggested that El greco had an astigmatism, a type of visual impairment, that resulted in people appearing to him in the distorted way that is charateristic of his paintings. However, this suggestion cannot be the explanation, because _______________________

a. Several twentieth century artists have consciously adopted from El greco's paintings the systematic elongation of the human form-But we are talking about 15th and 16th century over here.

b.some people do have elongated bodies somewhat like those depicted in El greco's portraits

c.If El greco had an astigmatism, then, relative to how people looked to him, the elongated figures in his paintings would have appeared to him to be distorted

d.even if El greco had an astigmatism, there would have been no correction for it available in the period in which he lived.

e.there were non-europen artists even in El greco's time who included in their works human figures that were intentionally distorted.-This should be the answer as it talks about contemporary artists.

Answer should be E.

Whats the OA??

[DanaJ]

I think it's C here.

A cannot be the answer because there's no connection between modern artists and El Greco's painting style. This is simply an influence of the painter.

B - while this may be true, it does not help explain the difference between El Greco's paintings and the paintings of other European artists. If some people do have elongated figures, then some of those figures should also naturally pop up in the paintings of other artists. However, since that's not the case, there must be something specific to El Greco's painting style that explains this.

C is the good answer because it neatly explains the paradox: if he did in fact suffer from this disease, then the paintings would have been even worse for him than they are for us.

D - this could of course be true, but it does not help with the explanation for the elongated figures. It's just something tangential to the issue.

E - we're talking about European painting here, so non-European styles do not have anything to do with it.

[ssgmatter]

OA is C

Hi Dana,

please elaborate more on this....

Regards,
Phil

[harshavardhanc]

The figures in portraits by the Spanish painter El Greco (1541-1614) are systematically elongated. In El Greco's time, the intentional distortion of the human figures was unprecedented in European Painting. Consequently, some critics have suggested that El greco had an astigmatism, a type of visual impairment, that resulted in people appearing to him in the distorted way that is charateristic of his paintings. However, this suggestion cannot be the explanation, because _______________________

a. Several twentieth century artists have consciously adopted from El greco's paintings the systematic elongation of the human form

b.some people do have elongated bodies somewhat like those depicted in El greco's portraits

c.If El greco had an astigmatism, then, relative to how people looked to him, the elongated figures in his paintings would have appeared to him to be distorted

d.even if El greco had an astigmatism, there would have been no correction for it available in the period in which he lived.

e.there were non-europen artists even in El greco's time who included in their works human figures that were intentionally distorted.

we need to disprove the critics' conclusion : painter had a disease. So, our reasoning should have both El Greco and astigmatism in it. C and D remain. Remember, we want to prove that he did not have the disease. So, we are least bothered about whether the disease's cure was available or not. D is out.

[ssgmatter]

also if we look at the argument it says tht the intentional distortion of the human figures was unprecedented in European Painting....so this means other painters also have this problem in there art so b should be correct....

please help me understand where i m going worng in my understanding.

Regards,
Phil

[ssgmatter]

i am still not very convince why C is correct although i m convince that A, D and E are just not relevant

Can anyone please explain option C and Option B in more details for better understanding of the question.

Regards,
Phil

[raisethebar]

I think it's C here.

A cannot be the answer because there's no connection between modern artists and El Greco's painting style. This is simply an influence of the painter.

B - while this may be true, it does not help explain the difference between El Greco's paintings and the paintings of other European artists. If some people do have elongated figures, then some of those figures should also naturally pop up in the paintings of other artists. However, since that's not the case, there must be something specific to El Greco's painting style that explains this.

C is the good answer because it neatly explains the paradox: if he did in fact suffer from this disease, then the paintings would have been even worse for him than they are for us.

D - this could of course be true, but it does not help with the explanation for the elongated figures. It's just something tangential to the issue.

E - we're talking about European painting here, so non-European styles do not have anything to do with it.

As you said for option B, I dont see anywhere it is said that other artist's also drawn distorted paintings.

I am still not convinced with C. I still hope B is better ans.
Can you plase elaborate....

[kstv]

Let us take the case of colour blindness.

Suppose Red appears Blue to me. I should paint a red dress blue. That is the what the critics are suggesting.
But in the colour palate Red will also appears Blue to me. So I happily choose Red thinking it to be Blue and paint the dress RED thinking all the while it is a Blue dress.

If El Greco sees me elongated, he will draw me proportionately. The final distorted or elongated figure will appear proportionate to him.

This was a classic. Made my day.

[harshavardhanc]

i am still not very convince why C is correct although i m convince that A, D and E are just not relevant

Can anyone please explain option C and Option B in more details for better understanding of the question.

Regards,
Phil

First, try to think what exactly can fill that blank. There are two options :

1) Provide an alternate explanation for the elongations in El Greco's painting. The explanation should tell us the reason for those specific elongations .

2) Prove that he did not have astigmatism.


Option B uses, 'some of the people do have elongated bodies' . Are you sure that these some were the ones painted by El Greco? Moreover B uses present tense. What about the time of El Greco? Did similar people exist at that time?


Coming to option C, it says that if he had an eye problem, elongating figures would not have helped him because after elongating also, the figures would have appeared as distorted to him. The eye had the problem after all, not the picture. (assumption)


Hence, the assumption is untrue and he did not have astigmatism. This fits the bill(option 2).

So, chose the better one.

I tried to make it clear, let's see if Phil is satisfied!

[ranjeet75]

Good Ques and Very Good explanation Dana

[DanaJ]

OMiGod, so many answers in just a few hours! El Greco is popular with you guys!

The point I was trying to make about B was the following: if say 10% of people have elongated figures, then it's only natural to see around 10% of the figures in paintings in general as elongated. However, you only see elongated figures in El Greco's paintings, which means that this is something specific to him, that relates strictly to his persona and not to anything else that's exterior to that (such as the fact that some people have elongated figures).

C basically proves why the painter couldn't have had astigmatism. If he did, then his paintings would have appeared to be weird to him, because astigmatism causes people to see in the exact opposite way of "elongated".

[ssgmatter]

Hi DanaJ,

Thanks a heap for your analysis. I have got this now.

I have sent a PM to you. Please take out sometime and advise on the same.

Waiting for your help

Warm Regards,
Phil

[reply2spg]

What is wrong with E?

[kstv]

E there were non-europen artists even in El greco's time who included in their works human figures that were intentionally distorted.
they may have also suffered from the same problem.
Suppose the option said

there were healthy non-europen artists even in El greco's time who included in their works human figures that were intentionally distorted.
then E could be considered.