“But My Kid Could Have Done That!”

Author(s):  
Ellen Winner

Many of us have a deep mistrust of abstract art. How can we tell if it is any good when we can’t use realism, subject matter, or narrative implications as a guide? In addition, abstract art looks superficially like paintings by preschoolers. This is why people say “My kid could have done that.” This chapter examines studies with adults and children showing that the untutored eye can distinguish works by children (and certain animals) from superficially similar works by abstract expressionist painters. We make this discrimination by perceiving intentionality. A computer can also be programmed to make this discrimination—and at about the same rate of accuracy as a human! The chapter concludes that your kid could not have done that. We see more than we think we do in abstract art. When we evaluate a work of art, we are thinking about the mind that made it.

Author(s):  
Ellen Winner
Keyword(s):  

Why we should care if a painting we find beautiful turns out to be a perfect fake is a profound question that philosophers have wrestled with. The fake is just as beautiful as it always was. Yet research confirms that we do not valorize works once we find out they are fakes. Studies show that we devalue perfect copies even when we admit they remain beautiful. This finding shows that there is more to what we value in a work of art than its pictorial properties. What we esteem is the work’s connection to history, to the hand of the master, and to what we know about the mind that made it. This conclusion is entirely consistent with philosopher Denis Dutton’s position that we judge a work by the kind of achievement we believe it represents.


2018 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan Roark

In Stone-Heng Restored (1655), Inigo Jones, the father of English neoclassicism, used drawings, histories, and questionable logic to argue that Stonehenge was built by the ancient Romans and that it originally exhibited perfect Platonic geometries. This argument was never given much credence, but by 1725 the subject matter and the architect had received enough attention that two book-length responses (a challenge and a defense) were published, and both were then republished in a single volume alongside Jones's original text. While most Jones scholars have neglected this work because of its logical and historical shortcomings, Ryan Roark argues in “Stonehenge in the Mind” and “Stonehenge on the Ground”: Reader, Viewer, and Object in Inigo Jones's Stone-Heng Restored (1655) that it was in fact exemplary of what made Jones, for many, a protomodern architect and scholar. Rather than viewing Jones's book as an earnest attempt to prove a historical inaccuracy, Roark considers it as an exercise in formal analysis, one that set the precedent for the contemporary pedagogical trend of using geometric simplifications of existing structures as a first step in new design. Jones's idiosyncratic reading of Stonehenge belied the idea that such analysis could be anything but intensely reliant on the subjectivity of both architect and viewer.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 445
Author(s):  
Harissman Harissman ◽  
Elvis Elvis ◽  
Rica Rian

AbstrakPenelitian ini membahas tentang penelusuran Arby Samah yang dikenal sebagai pelopor seni patung abstrak di Indonesia, serta mengungkap alasan Arby Samah memilih berkarya patung. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui sosok Arby Samah sebagai perintis seni patung abstrak di Indonesia, dan sangat berjasa dalam perkembangan seni patung di Indonesia serta Sumatera Barat khususnya. Kajian teori menggunakan seleksi dan fokus gejala berdasarkan jiwa zaman, menitikberatkan pada perspektif historis mempunyai dua dimensi: aspek masa kini, dan Aspek masa lampau. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah kualitatif dengan pendekatan deskriptif analisis. Adapun teknik pengumpulan data dilakukan melalui teknik observasi lapangan dan wawancara, pengambilan dokumen yang terkait. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa Arby Samah berkarya seni patung abstrak dilatarbelakangi oleh  faktor: 1) Budaya di Sumatera Barat yang membuat seni patung sulit berkembang. 2) Adat di Sumatera Barat yang mengikat setiap ruang gerak masyarakatnya. 3) Masyarakat di Sumatera Barat mayoritas memeluk Islam yang sangat mengikat dengan hadis dan Al-quran yang melarang membuat patung dalam wujud realis.Kata Kunci: arby samah, patung abstrak, budaya.AbstractThis research discussed about a person namely as Arby Samah that has known as a pioneer of art sculpture in Indonesia, it was also to reveal the reason of Arby Samah why choosing sculpture as his work of art. The aim of the research was too see the figure of Arby Samah as a pioneer of art sculpture in Indonesia, and also his contribution to the growth of art sculpture in indonesia especially in west sumatera province. Theory of the research used  the selection and observation of the nature symptom. This research focused to the historic perspective that consist of two dimensions, present aspect and past aspect. The method that used in this research was qualitative with descriptive analysis approach. The technique that used in collecting data were field observation, interview and taking the related documents. The result showed that when in producing abstract art sculpture, Arby Samah was influenced by factors: 1) West Sumatera culture that made art sculpture  difficult to growth. 2) the tight tradition or the custom of West sumatera, it limited the people to create art sculpture. 3) Islam is the majority religion of the people in west sumatera were in Al Qur’an and Al Hadist has stated that creating sculpture in realist form was prohibited.  Keywords: arby samah, abstract sculpture, culture.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (02) ◽  
pp. 329-344
Author(s):  
S. Solodovnyk ◽  

This article dwells upon the life path and the art of an artist and teacher, professor of Kharkiv Art and Industrial Institute (now Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Fine Arts) – Sergiy Solodovnyk (1915–1991) – my Dad. It is described in what way important events or important meetings with talented people can influence the development of personality, the formation of the artist’s and teacher’s views upon the methods of teaching and drawing and imagery in Arts, also the choice of the subject matter and genre. In artistic creation, both innate personality traits and those acquired in the process of studying the world, through which the artist passes in the process of creating a work of art and his formation as a person, as a lecturer or Teacher, are of great importance. The influence of his personality upon the students of several generations. His great importance in my life as a wise, delicate and caring dad. It is underlined in this article that good, honest deeds, love to people, homeland and to his direction in Art, sensitive attitude to the youth will always find reflection in human souls.


1993 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard K. Lowe

Diagrams are increasingly used to present complex and abstract information. Their ultimate success as tools for communication depends largely upon how effectively they can be processed in the mind of the viewer. The application of established principles of graphic design is a vital part of developing effective diagrams, but tends to focus upon external aspects of representation that apply at a general level across a wide range of subject domains. However, the internal (mental) representation of a specific set of subject matter is also important in influencing what sense viewers make of a diagram. The task of characterising relationships between the way a diagram is represented mentally and the effectiveness with which that diagram is processed poses novel challenges to researchers. This paper decribes some of these challenges and discusses methodologies that have been developed to explore the mental representation and processing of explanatory diagrams.


2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasso Kindi

Abstract Biography is usually distinguished from history and, in comparison, looked down upon. R. G. Collingwood’s view of biography seems to fit this statement considering that he says it has only gossip-value and that “history it can never be”. His main concern is that biography exploits and arouses emotions which he excludes from the domain of history. In the paper I will try to show that one can salvage a more positive view of biography from within Collingwood’s work and claim that his explicit attacks against biography target specifically the sensationalist kind. First, I will show that Collingwood, in his later writings, allowed that, not only thought, but also relevant emotions can be the subject matter of history, which means that even if one takes biography to deal with emotions, it can still qualify as history. Second, I will argue, based mainly on Collingwood’s Principles of Art, that biography can be compared to portrait painting, in which case, it can be redeemed as a work of art and not just craft and, thus, have more than entertainment value. It can also be part of history, and more specifically part of the history of art which Collingwood endorses, if one takes the life of an individual, recounted by a biographer, to be an artistic creation, as Collingwood seems to suggest.


Author(s):  
José Antonio Aristizábal

Palabras clave:Fotografía, estética, Humberto Rivas, Rafael Argullol, Eugenio Trías.Keywords: Photography, esthetic, Humberto Rivas, Rafael Argullol, Eugenio Trías.Resumen:El siguiente artículo busca dar una lectura a la obra del fotógrafo Humberto Rivas, Premio Nacional de Fotografía y unos de los mayores exponentes de la fotografía española de finales del siglo XX. Se parte de la convicción de que hace falta ubicar a Humberto Rivas en una tradición de pensamiento estético, ya que las distintas lecturas que existen sobre su trabajo, aunque importantes, no han  dejado de ser lecturas impresionistas que no han reflexionado en profundidad sobre su obra. Este artículo trata de ver a Rivas a partir de unas categorías estéticas. Para ello se remite a las reflexiones de Rafael Argullol para distinguir aquello propio del artista romántico, y a las aportaciones filosóficas de Eugenio Trías acerca de lo siniestro en la obra de arte, y las vincula a la obra de Humberto Rivas. La hipótesis inicial es de que Rivas no se sentía como un fotógrafo que atrapa momentos o documenta acontecimientos, sino como un creador, y su obra es resultado de un artista que se repliega sobre sí mismo con la intención de producir una imagen reflejo de su mundo interior, la cual se puede explicar desde la mente del artista romántico, aunque el contexto no sea el romanticismo. Por último, aunque el artículo hable sobre Humberto Rivas, también es una manera de construir un relato entre la imagen fotográfica y distintos valores estéticos que hacen parte la historia del arte. Abstract:The following article seeks to give a reading to the work of photographer Humberto Rivas, National Photography Prize and one of the greatest exponents of Spanish photography at the end of the 20th century. It is based on the conviction that it is necessary to locate Humberto Rivas in a translation of aesthetic thought, since the different readings that exist on his work, although important, have not ceased to be Impressionist readings that have not reflected in depth on his work . This article tries to see Rivas from some aesthetic categories. For this he refers to the reflections of Rafael Argullol to distinguish that of the romantic artist and the philosophical contributions of Eugenio Trías about the sinister in the work of art, and links them to the work of Humberto Rivas. The initial hypothesis is that Rivas did not feel like a photographer who catches moments or documents events, but as a creator, and his work is the result of an artist who recoils on himself with the intention of producing a reflex image of Its inner world, which can be explained, from the mind of the romantic artist although the context is not romanticism. Finally, although the article talks about Humberto Rivas, it is also a way to build a narrative between the photographic image and the values ​​that have served to interpret painting or sculpture in the history of art.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Santiago Vidales Martínez (208–29)

This essay attends to the poetry of Chicanx activist raúlrsalinas (1934–2008), specifically his most transgressive and innovative works which appear in A Trip Through the Mind Jail y Otras Excursions. I approach Salinas’s poetic works as textual events following Joseph Grigely’s reflections in Textualterity: Art, Theory and Textual Criticism where he conceives of texts as works in motion that frame the work of art as polytextual and comprised of multiple iterations.


Author(s):  
Rhodri Hayward

History maintains an ambiguous role with regard to the mind sciences. It can be used to demonstrate the universality of psychological characteristics, capacities, and illnesses or it can serve to demonstrate their relative bases by revealing the implicit assumptions that guide modern research as well as the specific configurations of theory, practice, and technology that allowed the mind sciences to emerge and their subject-matter to be articulated. This article embraces this second approach. It outlines four broad constructions of the psyche — the inscribable, the historical, the adaptable, and the statistical — and shows how their articulation has made possible new kinds of self-understanding and social interaction. It also makes broad claims for the universal basis of psychological phenomena. This discussion focuses on the specific conceptions of mental medicine that have emerged in Europe and North America since the end of the eighteenth century. This psychological language makes possible our modern experience of mind, self, and mental illness.


2003 ◽  
Vol 175 ◽  
pp. 851-852
Author(s):  
C.Y. Jim

This book is not one of those publications filled with colourful photographs or illustrations that delight the eye but numb the mind, but rather a labour of love that distils the knowledge of plants in China of two scholars who have plenty of experience on the subject matter. The study is based largely on published analyses of flora in China, both in English and in Chinese. It has a botanical orientation, and concentrates on the taxonomic aspects of the diversity of plant life in China, despite the inclusion of the word “distribution” in its subtitle. Readers should not anticipate many discussions of the plant-geographical, geobotanical or phytogeographical flavour in the tradition of N. Polunin or R. Good.


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