Symmetry and Balance as Factors of Aesthetic Appreciation: Ethel Puffer’s (1903) “Studies in Symmetry” Revised

Ronald Hübner,Katja Thömmes

doi:10.3390/sym11121468

Abstract

Symmetry and balance are basic concepts in art theory for the composition of pictures. It is assumed that well-balanced pictures are preferred to unbalanced ones. One of the first experimental studies to test this assumption was conducted more than a century ago by Ethel Puffer. By applying a production method, she found little evidence for the hypothesis that balance is favorable for the aesthetical appreciation of pictures. Instead, she observed that other construction principles competing with balance, such as bilateral symmetry and closeness, were applied. The aim of the present study was to repeat some of Puffer’s experiments with modern methods and to examine whether her results are replicable. In two experiments, we also found little to no evidence for balance. Moreover, as in Puffer’s study, participants used closeness and bilateral symmetry as principles. However, compared to that study, the relative frequency of use of these principles was quite different.

Highlights

Pictorial composition is one of the most important concepts in art and design [1,2,3,4,5]
There little evidence number of corresponding adjustments the two oblique-short conditions, this can be explained for mechanical balance as a strategy forincreating pleasing compositions
There was a by symmetry, as the locations predicted by the two hypotheses coincided for these conditions

Summary

Introduction

Pictorial composition is one of the most important concepts in art and design [1,2,3,4,5]. In order to maintain symmetry as a general principle of good composition, it has been assumed that such pictures often have some hidden symmetry, i.e., are symmetric with respect to the perceptual weights of the elements in a picture. This kind of symmetry has been called aesthetic symmetry [7], or dynamic symmetry [8] and is closely related to the concept of perceptual balance [9]

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Conclusion