Perceptual Organisation Affects Perception and Appreciation of Abstract Art: A Case Study with Black Square and Red Square by Kazimir Malevich

Arefe Sarami,Reza Afhami,Johan Wagemans

doi:10.1163/22134913-bja10028

Abstract

Abstract Perceptual organisation is hypothesised as a key in the perception and appreciation of abstract art. Here, we investigated how relational and compositional features affected the perception and aesthetic appreciation of Black Square and Red Square by Kazimir Malevich (1915). We studied how (i) the presence and obliquity of the red square and (ii) the relative configuration of the black and red square affected the detectability of the obliquity of the black square in this artwork. Results showed that the simultaneous presence and obliquity of the red square masked the obliquity of the original black square. The likelihood of the black square being incorrectly perceived as an exact square was always maximum in the original configuration and even slight alterations in the original configuration of the work resulted in the obliquity of the black square to be noticed. The original artwork was more aesthetically preferred compared to its alternatives. We argue that the artist may have intentionally set the configuration to mask the obliquity of the black square and maximise the aesthetic preference.

Highlights

To investigate if the group with greater art experience (Group 1) was better at this task than the art novice group (Group 2), we counted the total number of correct answers
The skewness of the black square and the proximity of the two squares showed a substantial effect on the perception of the black square, while the orientation of the red square did not seem to affect the perception of the black square all that much; the percentages of Yes responses hovered between 60% and 80% for the full range
Regarding proximity, we found that the likelihood of the black square being perceived as an exact square dropped significantly when the red square was located closer to the black square or further away compared to the original artwork, with a slightly larger drop when closer, especially for subsets 1 and 3

Summary

Introduction

It is obvious that we cannot cover a full review of this rich domain of perception here (for extensive reviews, see Wagemans, 2015b, 2018) In this experiment, the aim was to investigate the effect of the presence and obliquity of the red square on the perception of the obliquity of the black square in Malevich’s Black Square and Red Square abstract painting (Fig. 1, left). We want to go one step further by investigating the aesthetic evaluation of the original composition relative to its experimental variants This additional step seems essential to empirically validate whether the two central principles of Suprematism ‒ (1) the focus on nonobjective entities and dynamic forces and (2) the supremacy of the feelings generated by minimal compositions ‒ somehow resonate with what perceivers of a Suprematist artwork report about their aesthetic appraisals and feelings. In Experiment 3, we asked participants to indicate how pleasing, interesting, balanced and harmonious they find the original reference work by Malevich and the modified versions of sets 1R–3R and 1B–3B used in Experiment 2

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion