The essay poses the question: 'To whom does the meaning of the art of the past properly belong?' What two opposing groups does it present as the answer?
Explanation
This question goes to the heart of the essay's political argument, asking the reader to identify the two poles of the conflict over the ownership of cultural meaning.
Other questions
According to the text, what fundamental process precedes the use of words in human development and establishing one's place in the world?
Which Surrealist painter is mentioned as having commented on the gap between words and seeing in a painting called 'The Key of Dreams'?
The text argues that the way we see things is affected by what we know or believe. What example is used to illustrate this point?
According to the essay, what is the definition of an image?
What does the text claim about all images, even the most casual family snapshot?
The essay argues that when an image is presented as a 'work of art,' our perception is affected by a series of learnt assumptions. Which of the following is NOT listed as one of these assumptions?
According to the essay, why is the art of the past being mystified?
In the example of Frans Hals's paintings of the 'Regents' and 'Regentesses', what was the artist's personal situation at the time he painted them?
How does the essay criticize the art historian's analysis of Hals's 'Regentesses' painting?
What does the essay identify as the 'inherent contradiction' in the convention of perspective?
How did the invention of the camera change the way paintings were seen?
In the age of reproduction, what does the essay claim is the new basis for the uniqueness of an original painting?
The essay claims that the market price of a rare work of art is said to be a reflection of its 'spiritual value'. How does the essay describe this connection?
What does the text say was the reason Leonardo's cartoon of 'The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist' became famous to the public?
According to the table provided in the chapter, what percentage of manual workers in the survey stated that a museum reminded them most of a church?
Based on the table showing art museum visitors by education level, what percentage of the population with 'Only primary education' in Poland visits art museums?
What example does the essay use to demonstrate how adding words to a reproduced image can fundamentally change its meaning?
The essay states that 'the whole concept of the National Cultural Heritage' uses the authority of art for what purpose?
What does the essay suggest should logically replace museums, based on the personal way individuals curate images on boards in their rooms?
How does the essay describe the 'silence and stillness' of an original painting?
What does the essay claim the modern means of reproduction have done to the authority of art?
At the end of the essay, why does the author state that 'the entire art of the past has now become a political issue'?
The ideas in the first essay are acknowledged as being taken from which German critic and philosopher?
What does the text mean when it says 'we can also be seen'?
What does the essay suggest was the historical progression of what an image represented?
The essay states that 'fear of the present leads to mystification of the past.' What is the consequence of this 'cultural mystification'?
What is the 'drama' the essay claims is the true subject of Frans Hals's portraits of the Regents and Regentesses, which the art historian evades?
How did the Cubists' approach to the visible differ from the Impressionists', according to the essay?
When a painting is shown on a television screen, the essay argues its meaning is 'diversified'. Why does this happen?
The text describes the research in the National Gallery catalogue on the 'Virgin of the Rocks' as consisting of fourteen closely printed pages. What is the primary aim of this research?
In the 'age of pictorial reproduction', the essay claims that the meaning of paintings becomes 'transmittable'. What does this mean for the information they carry?
Why does the essay argue that a painting reproduced by a film camera 'lends authority to the film-maker'?
The essay claims that reproduced paintings, like all information, have to 'hold their own' against what?
The text states that in the past, the 'preserve' of the visual arts was originally magical or sacred. What did this 'preserve' later become?
What illusion does the essay claim is promoted by the way the means of reproduction are nearly always used?
According to the essay, looking is an act of what?
What does the essay argue is more fundamental than spoken dialogue?
What does the text say a 'privileged minority' is striving to do by mystifying the art of the past?
The essay describes the art historian's commentary on Hals's 'Regentesses' using terms like 'harmonious fusion' and 'unforgettable contrast'. It argues this serves to transfer emotion from the plane of lived experience to what other plane?
What does the essay say was the first achievement of Hals as a portraitist?
The essay compares the convention of perspective to a beam from a lighthouse. What is the key difference it points out in this analogy?
What does the text claim is the 'final empty claim for the continuing values of an oligarchic, undemocratic culture'?
According to the table on educational levels and museum attendance, which country in the survey has the highest percentage of visitors with 'Further and higher education'?
The essay argues that reproductions are still mostly used to 'bolster the illusion that nothing has changed.' Which of the following is NOT listed as a way this is done?
What is the key difference between how a painting and a film construct meaning for the viewer?
The essay distinguishes between innocence and knowledge. What is the 'real issue' it proposes instead of this dichotomy?
What does the essay claim is the power conferred by using the 'new language of images' differently?
In the author's critique of the art historian's analysis of a portrait by Hals, what possible medical explanation does the historian cite for a Regent's expression?
What has happened to images of art for the first time ever, due to modern means of reproduction?