Behind the Barmaid IELTS Reading Answers

Aug 18, 2023

Behind the Barmaid IELTS Reading Answers is a general reading subject that explores Behind the Barmaid. Behind the Barmaid IELTS reading answers, have a total of thirteen questions. The specified topic generates a single type of question: True/False/Not Given. Candidates should read the IELTS Reading passage thoroughly in order to recognize synonyms, identify keywords, and answer the questions below. IELTS reading practice papers, which feature topics such as Behind the Barmaid IELTS Reading Answers. Candidates can use IELTS reading answers to enhance their performance in the reading section.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

BEHIND THE BARMAID

One of the most critically renowned paintings of the 19th-century modernist movement is the French painter Edouard Manet's masterwork, A Bar at the Folies. Originally belonging to the composer Emmanuel Chabrier, it is now in the possession of The Courtauld Gallery in London, where it has also become a favourite with the crowds.
The painting is set late at night in a nineteenth-century Parisian nightclub. A barmaid stands alone behind her bar, fitted out in a black bodice that has a frilly white neckline, and with a spray of flowers sitting across her décolletage. She rests her hands on the bar and gazes out forlornly at a point just below the viewer, not quite making eye contact. Also on the bar are some bottles of liquor and a bowl of oranges, but much of the activity in the room takes place in the reflection of a mirror behind the barmaid. Through this mirror we see an auditorium, bustling with blurred figures and faces: men in top hats, a woman examining the scene below her through binoculars, another in long gloves, even the feet of a trapeze artist demonstrating acrobatic feats above his adoring crowd. In the foreground of the reflection a man with a thick moustache is talking with the barmaid.
Although the Folies (-Bergère) was an actual establishment in late nineteenth-century Paris, and the subject of the painting was a real barmaid who worked there, Manet did not attempt to recapture every detail of the bar in his rendition. The painting was largely completed in a private studio belonging to the painter, where the barmaid posed with a number of bottles, and this was then integrated with quick sketches the artist made at the Folies itself.
Even more confounding than Manet's relaxed attention to detail, however, is the relationship in the painting between the activity in the mirrored reflection and that which we see in the unreflected foreground. In a similar vein to Diego Velazquez' much earlier work Las Meninas, Manet uses the mirror to toy with our ideas about which details are true to life and which are not. In the foreground, for example, the barmaid is positioned upright, her face betraying an expression of lonely detachment, yet in the mirrored reflection she appears to be leaning forward and to the side, apparently engaging in conversation with her mustachioed customer. As a result of this, the customer's stance is also altered. In the mirror, he should be blocked from view as a result of where the barmaid is standing, yet Manet has re-positioned him to the side. The overall impact on the viewer is one of a dreamlike disjuncture between reality and illusion.
Why would Manet engage in such deceit? Perhaps for that very reason: to depict two different states of mind or emotion. Manet seems to be conveying his understanding of the modern workplace, a place - from his perspective - of alienation, where workers felt torn from their 'true selves and forced to assume an artificial working identity. What we see in the mirrored reflection is the barmaid's working self, busy serving a customer. The front-on view, however, bears witness to how the barmaid truly feels at work: hopeless, adrift, and alone.
Ever since its debut at the Paris Salon of 1882, art historians have produced reams of books and journal articles disputing the positioning of the barmaid and patron in A Bar at the Folies. Some have even conducted staged representations of the painting in order to ascertain whether Manet's seemingly distorted point of view might have been possible after all. Yet while academics are understandably drawn to the compositional enigma of the painting, the layperson is always likely to see the much simpler, more human story beneath. No doubt this is the way Manet would have wanted it.

Section 2

Questions 1-5
Reading Passage * has six paragraphs, A-F.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

A description of how Manet created the painting

Answer: C
Supporting statement: “...Manet did not attempt to recapture every detail of the bar in his rendition. The painting was largely completed in a private studio belonging to the painter, where the barmaid posed with...”
Keywords: private, barmaid
Keyword location: para C, line 3-4
Explanation: The description of how Manet created the painting can be found in paragraph C. It explains that Manet completed the painting in his private studio using a barmaid posing with bottles, as well as incorporating quick sketches he made at the actual Folies-Bergère establishment.

aspects of the painting that scholars are most interested in

Answer: F
Supporting statement: “....Ever since its debut at the Paris Salon of 1882, art historians have produced reams of books and journal articles disputing the positioning of the barmaid and patron in A Bar at the Folies....”
Keywords: historians, barmaid
Keyword location: para F, line 1-2
Explanation: The aspects of the painting that scholars are most interested in can be found in paragraph F. It mentions that art historians have produced numerous books and articles disputing the positioning of the barmaid and patron in the painting, and some have even conducted staged representations of the painting to understand Manet's seemingly distorted point of view.

the writer's view of the idea that Manet wants to communicate

Answer: E
Supporting statement: “....Manet seems to be conveying his understanding of the modern workplace, a place - from his perspective - of alienation....”
Keywords: workplace, perspective
Keyword location: para E, line 2-3
Explanation: The writer's view of the idea that Manet wants to communicate can be found in paragraph E. In this paragraph, the writer suggests that Manet's intention was to convey his understanding of the modern workplace as a place of alienation, where workers felt disconnected from their true selves and forced to assume an artificial working identity.

examples to show why the bar scene is unrealistic

Answer: D
Supporting statement: “... Even more confounding than Manet's relaxed attention to detail, however, is the relationship in the painting between the activity in the mirrored reflection and that which we see in the unreflected foreground.....”
Keywords: attention, reflection
Keyword location: para D, line 1-2
Explanation: This paragraph discusses the confounding relationship between the activity in the mirrored reflection and the unreflected foreground. It mentions that the barmaid's position and the customer's stance in the mirror do not align with what would be physically possible in reality.

a statement about the popularity of the painting

Answer: A
Supporting statement: “...One of the most critically renowned paintings of the 19th-century modernist movement is the French painter Edouard Manet's masterwork....”
Keywords: critically, modernist
Keyword location: para A, line 1-2
Explanation: A statement about the popularity of the painting can be found in paragraph A. It mentions that the painting, "A Bar at the Folies," is one of the most critically renowned paintings of the 19th-century modernist movement.

Questions 6-10
Answer the questions below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 6-10 on your answer sheet.

Who was the first owner of A Bar of at the Folies?

Answer: EMMANUEL CHABRIER
Supporting statement: “...A Bar at the Folies. Originally belonging to the composer Emmanuel Chabrier....”
Keywords: folies, composer
Keyword location: para A, line 2-3
Explanation: The first owner of "A Bar at the Folies" was the composer Emmanuel Chabrier.

What is the barmaid wearing?

Answer: A BLACK BODICE
Supporting statement: “...A barmaid stands alone behind her bar, fitted out in a black bodice that has a frilly white neckline, and with a spray....”
Keywords: bodice, frilly
Keyword location: para B, line 2-3
Explanation: The barmaid in the painting "A Bar at the Folies" is wearing a black bodice with a frilly white neckline. Additionally, she has a spray of flowers sitting across her décolletage.

Which room is seen at the back of the painting?

Answer: AN AUDITORIUM
Supporting statement: “...Through this mirror we see an auditorium, bustling with blurred figures and faces: men in top hats....”
Keywords: auditorium, blurred
Keyword location: para B, line 7-8
Explanation: The room seen at the back of the painting is an auditorium. In the mirrored reflection behind the barmaid, we can observe a bustling auditorium filled with blurred figures and faces, including men in top hats.

Who is performing for the audience?

Answer: A TRAPEZE ARTIST
Supporting statement: “....gloves, even the feet of a trapeze artist demonstrating acrobatic feats above his adoring ...”
Keywords: trapeze, acrobatic
Keyword location: para B, line 10-11
Explanation: In the painting "A Bar at the Folies," the performer seen in the reflected auditorium is a trapeze artist. The feet of the trapeze artist are shown demonstrating acrobatic feats above the adoring crowd in the reflected image.

Where did most of the work on the painting take place?

Answer: A PRIVATE STUDIO
Supporting statement: “....The painting was largely completed in a private studio belonging to the painter, where the barmaid posed with a number of bottles...”
Keywords: belonging, barmaid
Keyword location: para C, line 4-5
Explanation: Most of the work on the painting "A Bar at the Folies" took place in a private studio belonging to the painter, Edouard Manet. The barmaid posed with a number of bottles in the studio, and this setting was then integrated with quick sketches that Manet made at the actual Folies-Bergère establishment.

Questions 11-13
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-F, below.
Write the correct letter, A-F, in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.

wanted to find out if the painting's perspective was realistic
felt they had to work very hard at boring and difficult jobs
wanted to understand the lives of ordinary people at the time
felt like they had to become different people
wanted to manipulate our sense of reality
wanted to focus on the detail in the painting

Manet misrepresents the images in the mirror because he

Answer: E
Supporting statement: “....What we see in the mirrored reflection is the barmaid's working self, busy serving a customer....”
Keywords: reflection, working
Keyword location: para E, line 4-5
Explanation: Yes, that is correct. The passage suggests that Manet misrepresents the images in the mirror intentionally in order to manipulate the viewer's sense of reality. Similar to Diego Velazquez's painting "Las Meninas," Manet uses the mirror to create a dreamlike disjuncture between reality and illusion.

Manet felt modern workers were alienated because they

Answer: D
Supporting statement: “....from his perspective - of alienation, where workers felt torn from their 'true selves and forced to assume an artificial working identity....”
Keywords: alienation, artificial
Keyword location: para E, line 3-4
Explanation: Yes, according to the passage, Manet seems to convey his understanding of the modern workplace as a place of alienation. He believed that workers felt torn from their true selves and forced to assume an artificial working identity.

Academics have re-constructed the painting in real life because they

Answer: A
Supporting statement: “....Yet while academics are understandably drawn to the compositional enigma of the painting, the layperson is always likely to see the much simpler, more human story beneath. No doubt this is the way Manet would have wanted it....”
Keywords: enigma, story
Keyword location: para F, line 5-6
Explanation: The passage does not mention that academics have re-constructed the painting in real life to test the perspective's realism. It states that some art historians have disputed the positioning of the barmaid and patron in the painting and have conducted staged representations of the painting.

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