OFFICIAL EXPLANATION



B, E

The use of "despite" signals a contrast between the blank (which describes how modernists viewed Greenberg) and the ridicule he received from others. Thus, we need our blank to mean the opposite of "ridiculed." We should look for a work that means close to "praised." Commended, a close synonym of extolled, means "praised." Commended and extolled produce sentences alike in meaning. (B) and (E) are correct.