Final answer:
The immense scale and wealth of visual information in Andreas Gursky's photographs, such as 'Chicago Board of Trade II,' are comparable to 19th-century history paintings in their dramatic and detailed representation of large-scale narratives. option a is correct.
Step-by-step explanation:
The photographs of Andreas Gursky, especially works like Chicago Board of Trade II, are known for their vast scale and the profusion of visual details. These characteristics make Gursky's photographs rival the 19th-century history paintings in their grandeur and complexity. The correct option that describes the type of art Gursky's photographs rival is a. 19th-century history paintings. Such paintings typically captured large-scale historical or mythological scenes, often with a sense of drama and a high level of detail, much like how Gursky captures the modern world in his works.
The question of whether photography could be considered art was hotly debated in the 19th century. Early photography, practiced by pioneers like Alfred Stieglitz, was a new medium trying to establish its artistic credentials. Like oil painting, photography employed creative staging and manipulation to produce work that had aesthetic appeal and was more than just a mere replication of reality.
Unlike the intimate portraits of royal portraiture, the spiritual reverence embodied in Renaissance altarpieces, or the personal religious experience evoked by private devotional imagery, 19th-century history paintings and Gursky's photographs share a visual aesthetic that depicts the grand narrative of their respective times. As history paintings reflect the cultural and political narratives of the 19th century, Gursky's photographs mirror the globalized and interconnected world of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.