medium · SAT Reading & Writing
The invention of the camera in the 19th century was initially seen as a threat to painters, as it could capture reality with a precision no human hand could match. However, this technological shift actually liberated artists from the obligation to be representational. By ceding the task of 'recording' to the camera, painters were free to explore abstraction, emotion, and subjective experience, leading directly to the birth of Modernism.
Which choice best summarizes the central idea of the text?
- 19th-century painters were the first artists in history to explore subjective experience.
- Modernism was an artistic movement that sought to achieve the same precision as a camera.
- The invention of the camera in the 19th century completely replaced the need for painters.
- Photography's realism freed painters to focus on non-representational forms of expression.
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