The encounter that a portrait records is most tangibly the sitting itself, which may be brief or extended, collegial or confrontational. Renowned photographer Cartier-Bresson has expressed his passion for portrait photography by characterizing it as “a duel without rules, a delicate rape.” Such metaphors contrast quite sharply with RichardAvedon’s conception of a sitting. While Cartier-Bresson reveals himself as an interloper and opportunist, Avedon confesses—perhaps uncomfortably—to a role as diagnostician and (by implication) psychic healer: not as someone who necessarily transforms his subjects, but as someone who reveals their essential nature. Both photographers, however, agree that the fundamental dynamic in this process lies squarely in the hands of the artist.
A quite-different paradigm has its roots not in confrontation or consultation but in active collaboration between the artist and sitter. This very different kind of relationship was formulated most vividly by William Hazlitt in his essay entitled “On Sitting for One’s Picture” (1823). To Hazlitt, the “bond of connection” between painter and sitter is most like the relationship between two lovers. Hazlitt fleshes out his thesis by recalling the career of Sir Joshua Reynolds. According to Hazlitt, Reynolds’ sitters were meant to enjoy an atmosphere that was both comfortable for them and conducive to the enterprise of the portrait painter, who was simultaneously their host and their contractual employee.
1. The author of the passage quotes Cartier-Bresson (Highlighted) in order to
(A) refute Avedon’s conception of a portrait sitting.
(B) provide one perspective of the portraiture encounter.
(C) support the claim that portrait sittings are, more often than not, confrontational encounters.
(D) show that a portraiture encounter can be either brief or extended.
(E) distinguish a sitting for a photographic portrait from a sitting for a painted portrait.
2. Which of the following characterizations of the portraiture experience as viewed by Avedon is most readily inferable from the passage?
(A) A collaboration
(B) A mutual accommodation
(C) A confrontation
(D) An uncomfortable encounter
(E) A consultation
3. Which of the following best expresses the passage’s main idea?
(A) The success of a portrait depends largely on the relationship between artist and subject.
(B) Portraits, more than most other art forms, provide insight into the artist’s social relationships.
(C) The social aspect of portraiture sitting plays an important part in the sitting’s outcome.
(D) Photographers and painters differ in their views regarding their role in portrait photography.
(E) The paintings of Reynolds provide a record of his success in achieving a social bond with his subjects.
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