Sentence:  If , on the other hand , they opted for representation , it had to be representation per se - representation as image pure and simple , without connotations ( <WSD>at</WSD> least , without more than schematic ones ) of the three-dimensional space in which the objects represented originally existed . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  if nothing else (`leastwise' is informal and `leastways' is colloquial)