A member of the Otomi, an Indigenous people in Central Mexico, Octavio Medellin immigrated to the United States as a child, and his sculpture bears the impress of traditions on both sides of the border: US-based modernist sculpture, Mexican modernist painting, Otomi art, and the ancient sculpture of other Mexican Indigenous peoples, including the Maya. In his 1950 masterpiece History of Mexico, Medellin fuses these influences into a style so idiosyncratic that it resists efforts to view his work through the lens of nationality or cultural identity. Artists, he insisted, should strive for individual expression, even as they draw inspiration from their heritage and the communities where they live and work.

Which quotation from an art critic most directly challenges the underlined claim in the text?

Question

A member of the Otomi, an Indigenous people in Central Mexico, Octavio Medellin immigrated to the United States as a child, and his sculpture bears the impress of traditions on both sides of the border: US-based modernist sculpture, Mexican modernist painting, Otomi art, and the ancient sculpture of other Mexican Indigenous peoples, including the Maya. In his 1950 masterpiece History of Mexico, Medellin fuses these influences into a style so idiosyncratic that it resists efforts to view his work through the lens of nationality or cultural identity. Artists, he insisted, should strive for individual expression, even as they draw inspiration from their heritage and the communities where they live and work.

Which quotation from an art critic most directly challenges the underlined claim in the text?

Accepted Answer

"While A History of Mexico features modernist motifs, it relies primarily on angular human forms in profile--a staple of Maya sculpture--and thus invites classification as Indigenous art."

Answer

"Although a number of ancient Indigenous artistic traditions pictured human forms in profile, the forms populating the surface of A History of Mexico suggest a specifically Maya influence."

Answer

"In A History of Mexico, the synthesis of ancient and modernist traditions functions as a stylistic parallel to the work's subject matter: a survey of centuries of Mexican history."

Answer

"Many critics focus on Indigenous influences in A History of Mexico and other key works by Medellin to the exclusion of influences from non- Indigenous art."