|Question 11Verbal

Source Texts

Text
Text 1

Kikko (tortoiseshell) and other Japanese sashiko embroidery patterns use motifs drawn from nature and daily activities, classic sources of inspiration in folk-art traditions. A category that resists firm delineation, folk art is generally defined by an intimate connection to quotidian life. "The beauty of such objects," writes Sõetsu Yanagi in The Unknown Craftsman, "is not so much of the noble, the huge, or the lofty as a beauty of the warm and familiar."

Text 2

Through their beautiful handmade aesthetic, painting and textiles from Japan's twentieth-century mingei (folk art) movement represent an unambiguous rejection of mass-produced consumer goods. At the same time, mingei, properly considered, stands apart from fine art, as its rootedness in commonplace craft traditions gives it an authenticity and accessibility that fine art, with its prizing of sophistication and innovation, cannot match.
Which choice best describes how Text 1 differs from Text 2?
Both texts highlight the principally utilitarian nature of folk-art objects, but Text 1 acknowledges a complementary decorative function that is not mentioned in Text 2.
A
Text 1 suggests that the nature-based aesthetic of folk art is inherently resistant to change, while Text 2 implies that the pressures of consumer culture have indirectly altered how folk art is made.
B
Text 1 identifies characteristics shared by folk art across cultural contexts, while Text 2 describes how a universal characteristic of folk art is manifest within a specific tradition.
C
Both texts valorize folk-art traditions, but Text 1 does so by emphasizing qualities that are intrinsic to folk art, whereas Text 2 makes reference to other modes of cultural production
D