Photography: Đề thi thật IELTS READING (IELTS Reading Recent Actual Test)

READING PASSAGE 2
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14–26, which are based on Reading Passage 2 in pages 5 and 6.

Photography
Photography emerged as part of a cluster of technical inventions and innovations around the middle of the nineteenth century. Hailed as a great technological invention, it immediately became the subject of debates concerning its aesthetic status and social uses.

A
Central to the nineteenth-century debate about the nature of photography as a new technology was the question as to how far it could be considered as art. It was celebrated for its putative ability to produce accurate images of what was in front of the camera’s lens: images which were seen as being mechanically produced and thus free of the selective discriminations of the human eye and hand. On precisely the same grounds, the medium was often regarded as falling outside the realm of art as its assumed power of accurate, dispassionate recording appeared to leave no room for the artist’s compositional creativity.

B
Debates concerning the status of photography as art continued to take place in periodicals throughout the nineteenth century. The French poet Baudelaire linked these discussions to his hostility against the general trend towards realism, arguing that if photography is allowed to develop to the detriment of art, it will bring about the loss to human spiritual content. According to this view, photography’s function was to support intellectual endeavors.

C
Baudelaire was not alone in this view. Absolute material accuracy was seen as the hallmark of photography, and the nineteenth-century debates, recounted in the catalogues of human experience, both at home and overseas, encouraged people to emphasize photography as a method of naturalistic documentation.

D
Photographers responded to criticisms of this kind in two ways: either they accepted that photography was something different from art and sought to discover what the inherent properties of the medium were, or they pointed out that photography was more than a mechanical form of image-making. From the 1880s onwards, photographers sought to overcome the problems of photography by careful arrangement of all the elements of the composition and by reducing the signs of its technological production. For example, they ensured that the image was somewhat blurred by more processing of allegorical subjects, e.g., roses, and those who worked with the gum bichromate process achieved that prints had an almost painterly appearance.>> Form đăng kí giải đề thi thật IELTS 4 kĩ năng kèm bài giải bộ đề 100 đề PART 2 IELTS SPEAKING quý đang thi (update hàng tuần) từ IELTS TUTOR

E
In the other camp were those photographers who celebrated the qualities of straight photography (with an emphasis upon direct documentary typical of the Modern period in American photography) and did not want to treat the medium as a kind of monochrome painting. They were interested in photography’s ability to provide apparently accurate records of the visual world and tried to give their images the formal status and finish of paintings while concentrating their attention on its intrinsic quality.

F
Photography in Britain and France was initially heralded for its technical recording abilities. With few exceptions, the emphasis was on picture-taking rather than picture-making, echoing a distinction made by Margaret Harker. She suggests that the development of the art of photography in the late 1850s can be partly accounted for through the increasing involvement of people trained as artists. They brought with them a concern for form and composition and, in particular, the use of light. Photography came to record everyday life on terms of painting, such as portraiture, not only taking over some of the work of painters but also setting their work free. For instance, while recording for detail was still a strong part of a painted portrait, the studio portrait could now be created more cheaply. As such, portraiture became more democratically available. This not only prevented certain cultural groups from claiming exclusivity of the art of recording appearances but also provided access to a much greater number of people to this subtly sensed idea.

G
Furthermore, photography provoked artists to re-examine the nature and role of their art and to seek new forms of expression more attuned to an industrialized society. Its ability to record reality was seen as the intrusion of materialism into the spiritual domain. The division between mechanical and artistic reproduction shaped the nineteenth-century relationship between photography and art.

H
In the early days of photography, museums often displayed photos in rooms dedicated to scientific and industrial subjects. People were now able to see reproductions of famous works of art, leading to the development of art books, and, in architecture or sculpture, you could visit an exhibition and view reproductions.

Questions 14–17
Reading Passage 2 has eight paragraphs, A–H.

Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A–H, in boxes 14–17 on your answer sheet.

1. fears voiced about the potential threat posed to art by photography
2. the skills of artists being used in photography
3. the attempts of photographers to imitate art
4. the influence of photography on artists and painting

Questions 18–22
Complete the summary of paragraphs D and E below.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from paragraph D or E for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 18–22 on your answer sheet.

Photographers’ responses to criticism

In response to the suggestion that photography could not be considered an art form, photographers acted in two ways. Some of them rejected this criticism, certain that they could create pictures similar to 18 ______ and did this by carefully setting up the different parts of the 19 ______ before taking the photograph. Other things they did included causing the picture to be rather 20 ______ and some who wanted to try to make the print look like a canvas even 21 ______ their photographs. Others were anxious that their work should not be looked upon as some sort of 22 ______ painting and were much more concerned with the fact that the camera seemed to be able to produce a more accurate representation of what they could see around them.>> IELTS TUTOR hướng dẫn PHÂN TÍCH ĐỀ THI 30/5/2020 IELTS WRITING TASK 2 (kèm bài sửa HS đạt 6.5)

Questions 23–26
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 2?
Write TRUE, FALSE, or NOT GIVEN.

1. The increasing involvement of artists helped develop the art of photography.
2. Photography made portrait painting completely obsolete.
3. Painted portraits stopped being commissioned by wealthy clients in the 19th century.
4. Photography allowed painting to explore more creative and experimental approaches.

PASSAGE 2 - Questions 14–17

Questions 14–17

1. Answer: B
   Location: Paragraph B
   "The French poet Baudelaire linked 'the invasion of photography and the great industrial masses of today' and asserted that if photography is allowed to deputise for art in some of arts activities, it will not be long before it has supplanted or corrupted art altogether."

2. Answer: F
   Location: Paragraph F
   "She suggests that the development of the art of photography in the late 1850s can be partly accounted for through the increasing involvement of people trained as artists. They brought with them a concern for form and composition and, in particular, the use of light."

3. Answer: D
   Location: Paragraph D
   "... they made pictures of allegorical subjects, including religious scenes, and those who worked with the gum bichromate process scratched their prints in an effort to imitate something of the appearance of a canvas."

4. Answer: G
   Location: Paragraph G
   "It had a sense of instantaneousness that painting lacked. It has been suggested that photography encouraged impressionist painters to experiment with manners of painting which could also capture a sense of the moment, and the passage of light."

Questions 18–22

18. Answer: paintings
Location: Paragraph D
"... they pointed out that photography was more than a mechanical form of image-making, that it could be worked on and contrived so as to produce pictures which in some ways resembled paintings."

19. Answer: composition
Location: Paragraph D
"Pictorial photography from the 1850s onwards sought to overcome the problems of photography by careful arrangement of all the elements of the composition …"

20. Answer: blurred
Location: Paragraph D
"For example, they ensured that the image was somewhat blurred..."

21. Answer: scratched
Location: Paragraph D
"... those who worked with the gum bichromate process scratched their prints in an effort to imitate something of the appearance of a canvas."

22. Answer: monochrome
Location: Paragraph E
"In the other camp were those photographers who celebrated the qualities of straight photography (with an emphasis upon direct documentary typical of the Modern period in American photography) and did not want to treat the medium as a kind of monochrome painting."

Questions 23–26

23. Answer: FALSE
Location: Paragraph F
"She suggests that the development of the art of photography in the late 1850s can be partly accounted for through the increasing involvement of people trained as artists. They brought with them a concern for form and composition and, in particular, the use of light.">> IELTS TUTOR có hướng dẫn kĩ PHÂN TÍCH ĐỀ THI THẬT TASK 2 (dạng advantages & disadvantages) NGÀY 04/8/2020 IELTS WRITING GENERAL MÁY TÍNH (kèm bài được sửa hs đi thi)

24. Answer: NOT GIVEN
Location: No information

25. Answer: FALSE
Location: Paragraph F
"This did not prevent a continuing hierarchy: the painted portrait was still commissioned by the wealthy and the aristocracy."

26. Answer: TRUE
Location: Paragraph G
"It is a truism that photography released painting from its responsibility for literal depiction, allowing it to become more experimental."