Sentence:  If , on the other hand , they opted for representation , it had to <WSD>be</WSD> representation per se - representation as image pure and simple , without connotations ( at 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:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)