By the mid-nineteenth century, the provision of artists’ materials in Europe had become a regular trade with its own well-defined distribution channels. Previously,pigments (substances that give paints their color) tended to be categorized either with imported spices or with drugs (since some artists’ materials also had pharmaceutical uses), and so they were sold by grocers who dealt also in foods and medications. But as paint manufacturing became increasingly a matter of chemical synthesis (production) rather than the grinding of naturally-occurring pigment, it was transformed into an industry, and most retailers did little more than package the ready-made paints from manufacturers.
1.Paragraph 1 suggests that, by the mid-nineteenth century, most people who sold paints to artists
A.no longer had to package the paints they sold
B.became involved in selling food and medicine as well
C.started to use chemical synthesis to create a variety of products
D.were not involved in the process of making paint
Another major innovation in paint supplies was the collapsible metal tube, invented in 1841 by an American portrait painter named John Rand. The tin tubes replaced containers made from the bladders (hollow organs) of pigs, in which oil paints had previously been stored, and made paints far less liable to dry out in their packaging This was particularly significant for the Impressionist painters-artists who represented the effect of light on objects with short brush strokes of color and preferred working outdoors rather than in the studio:Auguste Renoir, a painter and one of the founding members of the Impressionist school remarked that”without paints in tubes, there would have been no Cezanne, no Monet, no Sisley or Pissarro, nothing of what the journalists were later to call Impressionism.
2.Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
A.Renoir emphasized that he was not the only nineteenth-century Impressionist painter who used paints in tubes when he painted outdoors.
B.Renoir argued that before the lmpressionists painters had not been successful in using color to show the effect of light because they had not used paints in tubes.
C.According to Renoir, paints in tubes were essential in making possible the work of the Impressionists, a group of painters who favored painting outdoors.
D.Renoir remarked that painters whom journalists were later to call lmpressionists used paints in tubes when they painted outdoors.
This commercialization of artists’ supplies contributed to the distancing of the painter from his or her materials-the beginnings of that problematic attitude toward the primary substance of paint that was ultimately to impel some artists of the twentieth century to experiment with the use of house paints.J.-F. L. Merimee, a French chemist and painter, complained in 1830 that painters were no longer able to distinguish good materials from bad. And there certainly were bad materials around. To the paint merchant, the bottom line was profit, and sellers often cared little for the quality or long-term stability of their colors. These people, said Merimee, “hada stronger feeling toward their own immediate profit than any regard to the preservation of pictures.” They used binding materials that gave the paints a long shelf life, but at the cost of creating poor drying properties on the canvas. Because the pigment was the most expensive component of the paint, the color-makers would be inclined to minimize the amounts used. But as all oils turn slightly yellow as they dry, paints with a high oil-to-pigment ratio discolor more markedly. And to keep the paint stiff while lowering the pigment content, some manufacturers added wax, which resulted in a sticky material that was liable to crack. Some retailers diluted their pigments with extenders-inert materials such as chalk or gypsum that merely made the colored material go further. There were even cases of deliberate falsification, of one pigment being passed off as another more expensive variety or surreptitiously mixed with it.The ambiguous relation of some paint names to the pigments they contained only heightened the temptation for duplicity.
3.In paragraph 3, why does the author provide J.-F. L. Mrime’s observation that painters could no longer accurately judge the quality of their paints?
A.To demonstrate the importance of some artists of the twentieth century experimenting with house paints
B.To point out an important difference between painters’ and paint merchants’ knowledge about the quality of pigments
C.To examine an aspect of art that changed as a result of the commercial production of art supplies
D.To explain why artists sometimes asked other people to buy their paints
4.According to paragraph 3, all of the following are ways in which paint sellers lowered the quality of their materials to make a profit EXCEPT
A.by selling paints that had been stored for too long
B.by increasing the oil-to-pigment ratio of their paints
C.by adding wax to their paints to stiffen them
D.by secretly mixing a costly pigment with a cheap one
5.The word “ambiguous” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A.false
B.unclear
C.unusual
D.direct
6.The word “heightened” in the passage is closest in meaning to
A.increased
B.added
C.showed
D.followed
As a protection against such practices, many artists strove to establish a good relationship with a particular color merchant, relying on him to control paint quality.▉Impressionist painters Pissarro and Cezanne, and later Vincent van Gogh, used Julien Tanguy, who ran a small shop on the rue Clauzel in Montmartre from 1874.▉ The Danish painter Johan Rohde described it as a “paltry little shop, poorer than the most miserable second-hand dealers in Adelgade [in Copenhagen] … There were stacks of pictures-no doubt payment for materials-and very valuable things among them,” which drew many visitors to the shop. ▉The wild van Gogh was befriended by Tanguy when the artist came to Paris in 1886, and he twice painted the merchant’s portrait, despite complaining on several occasions about his wares. Tanguy ground his own colors, and one of the advantages of such a supplier was that he could provide materials to order: van Gogh,for instance, made specific requests for coarsely ground pigments. ▉Among the lmpressionists only Edgar Degas showed much curiosity about what was actually in his own colors, and one of the advantages of such a supplier was that he could provide materials to order: van Gogh,for instance, made specific requests for coarsely ground pigments. Among the lmpressionists only Edgar Degas showed much curiosity about what was actually in hiscolors. His notebooks contain many chemical recipes and technical notes that show a very limited knowledge of chemistry.
7.According to paragraph 4, which of the following best describes the retail practices of the color merchant Julien Tanguy?
A.Tanguy accepted paintings from the lmpressionist artists in exchange for paints.
B.To ensure the best quality paints, Tanguy employed Johan Rohde to grind colors for him.
C.Tanguy began as a second-hand dealer, but with encouragement from his lmpressionist friends, he began to sell paints as well.
D.Tanguy used the shop to display and market his own paintings.
8.According to paragraph 4, Edgar Degas differed from other lmpressionists in which of the following ways?
A.He was able to obtain high-quality paints by giving paint merchants detailed notes and descriptions of what he wanted.
B.He took an interest in the chemical makeup of his paints despite a lack of technical knowledge.
C.He was the only lmpressionist to adopt van Gogh’s use of coarsely ground pigments.
D.He was curious about the colors that were made to order for van Gogh.
9.Look at the four squares [▊] that indicate where the following sentence could be added to the passage.Where would the sentence best fit?
There were a number of such sellers available.
10.Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is worth 2 points.
The industrialization of paint manufacturing changed the relationship between artists and their materials.
A.Paints were increasingly chemically synthesized rather than made from hand-ground pigments, and collapsible metal tubes were invented for paint storage.
B.As artists became distanced from paint production, they had more difficulty recognizing bad materials and were vulnerable to the dishonest practices of retailers.
C.The new manufactured paints lasted much longer on canvas but many of the lmpressionists complained that they lacked the variety of color of the hand-ground pigments.
D.The industrialization of paint manufacturing made paints more affordable and also led to an increase in the number of places where painters could purchase supplies.
E.As artists became aware of the poor quality of many paints,they began applying and drying paint in ways that would make its flaws less obvious.
F.To help ensure that they obtained high-quality paints, artists commonly strengthened their ties to the merchants from whom they bought paints.
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