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• “Art is a step from what is obvious and well-known toward what is arcane and concealed.” – Kahlil Gibran
• “Art is magic delivered from the lie of being truth.” – Theodor Adorno
• “Art is the only way to run away without leaving home.” - Twyla Tharp
• “Art is an invention of aesthetics, which in turn is an invention of philosophers. What we call art is a game.” - Ocatvio Paz
• “Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has ever known.” – Oscar Wilde
• “Art is science made clear.” - Wilson Mizner• “Art is the proper task in life.” – Friedrich Nietzsche• “Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.” –
Stephen Sondheim• “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our
souls.” – Pablo Picasso• “Art is anything you can get away with.” - Marshall McLuhan
The Nature of Art
• Wollheim – “One of the most elusive of the traditional problems of human culture”
Dictionary Definition
• noun /ärt/• The expression or application of human creative skill and
imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power. “The art of the Renaissance”
• Works produced by such skill and imagination. “His collection of modern art”
• Creative activity resulting in the production of paintings, drawings, or sculpture. “She's good at art”
Tolstoy’s Reflections
• “Art begins when one person, with the object of joining another or others to himself in one and the same feeling, expresses that feeling by certain external indications.”
• “Art… is a means of union among men, joining them together in the same feelings, and indispensable for the life and progress toward well-being of individuals and of humanity.”
Directed Pleasure
• The art object is valued as a source of immediate experiential pleasure
Ansel Adams (1942) “The Grand Tetons & Snake River”
Style
• Art objects are made in recognizable styles according to rules of form, composition, expression
Novelty and Creativity
• Art is valued for its novelty, creativity, originality, and capacity to grab attention and surprise the audience
(Ron Mueck sculptures)
Criticism
• Art exists alongside a critical language of judgment and appreciation
• Professional criticism is a performance of its own and is subject to evaluation
Representation
• Art imitates real or imagined experiences of the world
(Van Gogh, 1889 “Starry Night”)
Expressive Individuality
• Individual expression is valued, sometimes over technical competence
Francis Bacon (1953) “Study after Valazquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X”
Emotional Saturation
• The emotions provoked by the represented content• The emotional flavor or tone of a piece Picasso (1937) “Guernica”; Vermeer (1665) “The Girl with
the Pearl Earring”
Intellectual Challenge
• Works of art can stretch the normal perceptual and intellectual boundaries, giving one a source of aesthetic pleasure
(Rauschenberg, 1955, Untitled)
Art Traditions and Institutions
• Art objects are given significance by placing them in a historical and cultural context
(Delacroix, 1830, “Liberty Leading the People”)
Imaginative Experience
• Artistic experience takes place in the theatre of the imagination
(Hopper, 1942, “Nighthawks”)
Art and Aesthetics
• Aesthetics - a branch of philosophy examining the meaning of art – aka the “Philosophy of Art”
• Origins in Aristotle, Kant, Heidigger, Schopenhauer among others…
• Kant: The “Faculty of Judgment” allows us to make aesthetic judgments. These judgments are both subjective and universal. A judgment which is uninfluenced by charm or emotion and whose determining ground, therefore, is simply finality of form, is a “Pure judgment of taste."
Aesthetic Experience
“Art is what produces an aesthetic response in at least some individuals and was created by a sentient creature.” – Ken Stange
Aesthetic Experience
• Emotion “This photo makes me feel wistful.”
• Cognition: “It looks like he needs a shave.”
• Recollection: “That photo reminds me of my grandfather.”
Functions of Art (Stange, 2010)
• Magical Control• Religious Service• Biological Need• Need for Order• Need for Stimulation• Need for Catharsis• Artistic Gratification
• Communication• Service to the State• Education• Enlightenment• Entertainment• Therapy
Artistic Gratification
• “I must create a system or be enslaved by another man’s; I will not reason and compare; my business is to create.” - William Blake
• “Give me a museum and I’ll fill it.” - Pablo Picasso
What is the Psychology of Art?
• There is no formal sub-discipline in Psychology corresponding to this; APA Division 10 Psychology and the Arts
• An investigation into the psychological underpinnings of the creation, execution, apprehension, and comprehension of art
• The scientific methods of psychology are applied to this area of study
• Two foci: the creative artist and the person viewing the art
The Viewer of Art
• Neurocognitive processes• Emotions elicited• Personal meaning and organization of
sentiments Man Ray (1926) “Noir et Blanche”
Empirical Aesthetics
• Scientific study of aesthetic perceptions of art• Attempt is to objectively study reactions to art• IAEA
A Few Seminal Publications on Psychology of Art
• Vygotsky (1925) “The Psychology of Art”• Dewey (1934) “Art as Experience”• Malraux (1949) “The Psychology of Art”• Jung (1964) “Man and his Symbols”• Arnheim (1966) “Toward a Psychology of Art”• Wollheim (1968) “Art and its Objects: An
Introduction to Aesthetics”