Comparisons between Museum and Mass-Produced Art

Abstract

Mass-produced art is a popular and inexpensive form of art which imitates museum art of the realistic sort, e.g., landscapes. Previous research has indicated that this art is positively evaluated. As a follow-up, six studies compared mass-produced and museum art. In four studies, preferences for the two kinds of art were compared. In two studies, recognition of the two kinds of art was tested. Either sixteen or twenty-eight examples of both examples of art were shown either singly or in matched pairs, as slides or as photos, and subjects were either informed or not about the kinds of art they were seeing. Subjects (177), of different ages, education, and art backgrounds, were tested in various locations. The results indicated both mass-produced and museum art were liked about equally, and the difference between the two kinds of art was not recognized. These and other results were discussed in terms of the relationship between popular and fine art.