Bridging two worlds that care about art: psychological and historical approaches to art appreciation
William Forde Thompson1, Mark Antliff
1Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia. Bill.Thompson@mq.edu.au
The Behavioral and Brain Sciences
|March 20, 2013
Abstract:
Art appreciation often involves contemplation beyond immediate perceptual experience. However, there are challenges to incorporating such processes into a comprehensive theory of art appreciation. Can appreciation be captured in the responses to individual artworks? Can all forms of contemplation be defined? What properties of artworks trigger contemplation? We argue that such questions are fundamental to a psycho-historical framework for the science of art appreciation, and we suggest research that may assist in refining this framework.
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