The belief that art originates
The belief that art originates in intuitive rather than rational faculties was worked out historically and philosophically in the somewhat wearisome volumes of Benedetto Croce, who is usually considered the originator of a new aesthetic. Croce was, in fact, expressing a very old idea. Long before the Romantics stressed intuition and self-expression, the frenzy of inspiration was regarded as fundamental to art, but philosophers had always assumed it must be controlled by law and by the intellectual power of putting things into harmonious order. This general philosophic concept of art was supported by technical necessities. It was necessary to master certain laws and to use intellect in order to build Gothic cathedrals, or set up the stained glass windows of Chartres. When this bracing element of craftsmanship ceased to dominate artists’ outlook, new technical elements had to be adopted to maintain the intellectual element in art. Such were linear perspective (linear perspective: 直线透视图) and anatomy.
17. The passage suggests that which of the following would most likely have occurred if linear perspective and anatomy had not come to influence artistic endeavor?
(A) The craftsmanship that shaped Gothic architecture would have continued to dominate artists’ outlooks.
(B) Some other technical elements would have been adopted to discipline artistic inspiration.
(C) Intellectual control over artistic inspiration would not have influenced painting as it did architecture.
(D) The role of intuitive inspiration would not have remained fundamental to theories of artistic creation.(B)
(E) The assumptions of aesthetic philosophers before Croce would have been invalidated.
18. The passage supplies information for answering which of the following questions?
(A) Does Romantic art exhibit the triumph of intuition over intellect?
(B) Did an emphasis on linear perspective and anatomy dominate Romantic art?
(C) Are the intellectual and intuitive faculties harmoniously balanced in post-Romantic art?
(D) Are the effects of the rational control of artistic inspiration evident in the great works of pre-Romantic eras?(D)
(E) Was the artistic craftsmanship displayed in Gothic cathedrals also an element in paintings of this period?
19. The passage implies that which of the following was a traditional assumption of aesthetic philosophers?
(A) Intellectual elements in art exert a necessary control over artistic inspiration.
(B) Architecture has never again reached the artistic greatness of the Gothic cathedrals.
(C) Aesthetic philosophy is determined by the technical necessities of art.
(D) Artistic craftsmanship is more important in architectural art than in pictorial art.(A)
(E) Paintings lacked the intellectual element before the invention of linear perspective and anatomy.
20. The author mentions “linear perspective and anatomy” in the last sentence in order to do which of the following?
(A) Expand his argument to include painting as well as architecture
(B) Indicate his disagreement with Croce’s theory of the origins of art
(C) Support his point that rational order of some kind has often seemed to discipline artistic inspiration
(D) Explain the rational elements in Gothic painting that corresponded to craftsmanship in Gothic architecture(C)
(E) Show the increasing sophistication of artists after the Gothic period