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  3. What we today call America folk art was, indeed, art of, by, and for ordinary, everyday "folks" who, with increasing prosperity

What we today call America folk art was, indeed, art of, by, and for ordinary, everyday "folks" who, with increasing prosperity

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问题     What we today call America folk art was, indeed, art of, by, and for ordinary, everyday "folks" who, with increasing prosperity and leisure, created a market for art of all kinds, and especially for portraits. Citizens of prosperous, essentially middel-class republics—whether ancient Romans, seventeenth-century Dutch burghers, or nineteenth-century Americans—have always shown a marked taste for portraiture. Starting in the late eighteenth century, the United States contained increasing numbers of such people, and of the artists how could meet their demands.
    The earliest American folk art portraits come, not surpisingly, form New England—especially Connecticut and Massachusetts—for this was a wealthy and populous region and the center of a strong craft tradition. Within a few decades after the singning of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the population was pushing westward, and Missouri. Midway through its first century as a nation, the United States’ population had increased roughly five times, and eleven new states had been added to the original thirteen. During these years the demand for portraits grew and grew, eventually to be satisfied by the camera. In 1839 the daguerreotype was introduced to America, ushering in the age of photography, and within a generation the new invention put an end to the popularity of painted portraits. Once again an original portrait became a luxury, commissioned by the wealthy and executed by the professional.
    But in the heyday of portrait painting-from the late eighteenth century until the 1850’s—anyone with a modicum of artistic ability could become a limner, as such a portaitist was called. Local craftspeople-sign, coach, and house painters—began to paint portraits as a profitable sideline; sometimes a talented man or woman who began by sketching family members gained a local reputation and was besieged with requests for portraits; artists found it worth their while to pack their paints, canvases, and brushes and to travel the countryside, often combining house decorating with portrait painting.
According to the passage, which of the following contributed to a decline in the demand for paint portraits
选项 A、The lack of a strong craft tradition
B、The westward migration of many painters
C、The growing preference for landscape paintings
D、The invention of the camera
答案D
解析 事实细节题。文中第二段提及摄影时代的到来致使在不超过一代人的时间内，手工画像就不再风靡了。由“within a generation the new invention put an end to the popularity of painted portraits”可知，对手工画像需求的减少源自照相机的发明，故答案为D。
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