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Psychology has had a profound impact on the arts and their definition in the twentieth century. This is largely because psychology – as it began to develop after the 1880s - asked profound questions about how we relate to each other and to our world. As a result, the objects that we produce came to be seen as playing an important role in our understanding of who we are. The work of Theodor Lipps, a Munich-based research psychologist, played an important role in the early development of the concept of art psychology. Lipps, a prolific researcher, theorized the question of Einfuehlung or "empathy," a term that was to become a key element in the theory of art psychology. In the narrow sense, however, there is no discipline “the psychology of art,” for unlike psychology itself, with its numerous academies and research programs, there are few Psychology of Art programs in the universities. Nonetheless, the literature on the topic is extensive given that the issues addressed by art psychology have attracted both professional psychologists as well as non-professionals; it has attracted those who write about the arts, including music and architecture, and those who produce it. The general principles are 1) that art is perceptual, meaning that it can be studied by asking questions about our perceptions; 2) that art operates in a cultural continuum and that one can come to terms with the continuum through analysis of art, and 3) that the production of art is a meaningful enterprise and as such is an important avenue by which one comes to terms with human creativity. Art psychology developed in opposition to nineteenth century philosophical aesthetics which approached art by first asking about beauty and metaphysics. Beauty for most art psychologists is culturally or socially contingent. Art psychology was, however, also developed initially in opposition to Husserlian phenomenology which made no normative judgments about meaning. . Most branches of art psychology emphasize the primacy of consciousness, but there are variants which engage the question of the subconscious. Generally speaking, however, those interested in the psychology of art expresses an optimism about art and its meaning that moves them away from Freud. Image File history File links Information_icon. ... Shortcut: WP:WIN Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia and, as a means to that end, also an online community. ... Shortcut: WP:CU Marking articles for cleanup This page is undergoing a transition to an easier-to-maintain format. ... This Manual of Style has the simple purpose of making things easy to read by following a consistent format — it is a style guide. ... Psychology is an academic and applied field involving the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. ... Theodor Lipps (1851-1914) was a German philosopher. ... For the fictional character, see Empath (comics). ... In psychology and the cognitive sciences, perception is the process of acquiring, interpreting, selecting, and organizing sensory information. ... The Parthenons facade showing an interpretation of golden rectangles in its proportions. ... Plato and Aristotle (right), by Raphael (Stanza della Segnatura, Rome). ... Look up Phenomenology in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Sigmund Freud His famous couch Sigmund Freud (May 6, 1856 - September 23, 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, a movement that popularized the theory that unconscious motives control much behavior. ...

History

One of the earliest to integrate psychology with art history was Heinrich Wölfflin (1864 – 1945), a Swiss art critic and historian, whose dissertation Prolegomena zu einer Psychologie der Architektur (1886) attempted to show that architecture could be understood from a purely psychological (as opposed to a historical-progressivist) point of view.^[1] Another important figure in the development of art psychology was Wilhelm Worringer, who provided some of the earliest theoretical justification for expressionist art. Numerous artists in the early twentieth century began to be influenced by the psychological argument, including Naum Gabo. Heinrich Wölfflin (June 21, 1864 – July 19, 1945) was a famous Swiss art critic, whose objective classifying principles (painterly vs. ... Wilhelm Worringer (* 1881 in Aachen; † 1965 in Munich) was a German art historian. ... Naum Gabo KBE (August 5, 1890 - August 23, 1977) was a prominent sculptor in the Constructivism movement and a pioneer of Kinetic Art. ...

Though the disciplinary foundations of art psychology were first developed in Germany, there were soon advocates, in psychology, the arts or in philosophy, pursuing their own varients in the USSR, England (Clive Bell), France (André Malraux), and the US. In the US, the philosophical premises of art psychology were strengthened - and given political valence - in the work of John Dewey.^[2] His 'Art as Experience was published in 1934, and was the basis for significant revisions in teaching practices whether in the kingergarten or in the university. Manuel Barkan, head of the Arts Education School of Fine and Applied Arts at Ohio State University, and one of the many pedagoges infulenced by the writings of Dewey, explains, for example, in his book, The Foundations of Art Education (1955), that the aesthetic education of children prepares the child for a life in a complex democracy. Dewey himself played a seminal role in setting up the program of the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, which became famous for its attempt to integrate art into the classroom experience. Arthur Clive Howard Bell (September 16, 1881 – September 18, 1964) was an English critic, associated with the Bloomsbury group. ... André Malraux, French author, adventurer, and statesman André Malraux (November 3, 1901 - November 23, 1976) was a French author, adventurer and statesman preeminent in the world of French politics and culture during his lifetime. ... John Dewey (October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer, whose thoughts and ideas have been greatly influential in the United States and around the world. ... The Barnes Foundation is a museum situated in Merino Station, one of the suburbs of Philadelphia in the United States. ...

The growth of art psychology between 1950 and 1970 also coincided with the expansion of art history and museum programs. The popularity of Gestalt psychology in the 1950s added further weight to the discipline. The seminal work was Gestalt Therapy: Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality (1951), that was co-authored by Fritz Perls, Paul Goodman, and Ralph Hefferline. The writings of Rudolf Arnheim (born 1904) were also particularly influential during this period. His Toward a Psychology of Art (Berkeley: University of California Press) was published in 1966. Art therapy drew on many of the lessons of art psychology and tried to implement them in the context of ego repair.^[3] Marketing also began to draw on the lessons of art psychology in the layout of stores as well as in the placement and design of commercial goods.^[4] Gestalt psychology (also Gestalt theory of the Berlin School) is a theory of mind and brain that proposes that the operational principle of the brain is holistic, parallel, and analog, with self-organizing tendencies. ... Friedrich (Frederick) Salomon Perls (July 8 1893, Berlin - March 14, 1970, Chicago), better known as Fritz Perls, was a noted German-born psychiatrist and psychotherapist of Jewish descent. ... Rudolf Arnheim (born July 15, 1904) is a German-born author, art and film theorist, and perceptual psychologist. ... Art therapy is a type of psychotherapy using art-making and creativity to increase emotional well-being. ... Marketing is a social and managerial function that attempts to create, expand and maintain a collection of customers. ...

Art psychology, generally speaking, was at odds with the principles of Freudian psychoanalysis with many art psychologists critiquing, what they interpreted as, its reductivism. The writings of Carl Jung, however, had a favorable reception among art psychologists given his optimistic portrayal of the role of art and his belief that the contents of the personal unconscious and, more particularly, the collective unconscious, could be accessed by art and other forms of cultural expression. Psychoanalysis is a family of psychological theories and methods based on the pioneering work of Sigmund Freud. ... Carl Jungs autobiographical work Memories , Dreams, Reflections, Fontana edition Carl Gustav Jung (July 26, 1875, Kesswil, – June 6, 1961, Küsnacht) (IPA: ) was a Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology. ...

By the 1970s, the centrality of art psychology in academe began to wane. Artists became more interested in psychoanalysis and feminism, and architects in phenomenology and the writings of Wittgenstein and Derrida. As for art and architectural historians, they critiqued psychology for being anti-contextual and culturally naive. Erwin Panofsky, who had a tremendous impact on the shape of art history in the US, argued that historians should focus less on what is seen and more on what was thought.^[5] Today, psychology still plays an important role in art discourse, though mainly in the field of art appreciation. ^[6] Psychoanalysis is a family of psychological theories and methods based on the pioneering work of Sigmund Freud. ... Feminism is a collection of social theories, political movements and moral philosophies, largely motivated by or concerned with the liberation of women. ... Look up Phenomenology in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), pictured here in 1930, made influential contributions to Logic and the philosophy of language, critically examining the task of conventional philosophy and its relation to the nature of language. ... Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (July 15, 1930 – October 8, 2004) was an Algerian-born French literary critic and philosopher of Jewish descent, considered the first to develop deconstruction. Positioning Derridas thought Derrida had a significant effect on continental philosophy and on literary theory, particularly through his long-time... Erwin Panofsky (1892-1968) was a German art historian and essayist often credited with the founding of the academic iconography. ...

References

Mark Jarzombek is a US-born author and architectural historian, and (since 1995) Director of the History Theory Criticism Section of the Department of Architecture at MIT, Cambridge MA, USA. Jarzombek received his architectural training at the ETH Zurich, where he graduated in 1980. ... Mark Jarzombek is a US-born author and architectural historian, and (since 1995) Director of the History Theory Criticism Section of the Department of Architecture at MIT, Cambridge MA, USA. Jarzombek received his architectural training at the ETH Zurich, where he graduated in 1980. ...

See also

• Psychologists
• List of basic psychology topics
• List of psychology topics
• List of publications in psychology
• List of psychologists
• List of psychology organizations