Art Experts Research Articles

Retrato falado, Criminoso e Cinema.

This text sought to approximate the Law, Art and Visual Culture through the spoken portrait instrument of art and police expertise that underwent transformations throughout its existence, but did not lose its essence of collabo-rative work. The purpose of this text will be to present the historical process of the spoken picture, the constitutive elements of its language and the image of the other in the cinema through the spoken picture. The methodology used was based on a bibliographical review.

Mistrzowie dawni. Szkic do dziejów dziewiętnastowiecznego pojęcia

Mistrzowie dawni. Szkic do dziejów dziewiętnastowiecznego pojęcia

Aesthetic Evaluation of Digitally Reproduced Art Images

Most people encounter art images as digital reproductions on a computer screen instead of as originals in a museum or gallery. With the development of digital technologies, high-resolution artworks can be accessed anywhere and anytime by a large number of viewers. Since these digital images depict the same content and are attributed to the same artist as the original, it is often implicitly assumed that their aesthetic evaluation will be similar. When it comes to the digital reproductions of art, however, it is also obvious that reproductions do differ from the originals in various aspects. Besides image quality, resolution, and format, the most obvious change is in the representation of color. The effects of subjectively varying surface-level image features on art evaluation have not been clearly assessed. To address this gap, we compare the evaluation of digital reproductions of 16 expressionist and impressionist paintings manipulated to have a high color saturation vs. a saturation similar to the original. We also investigate the impact of viewing time (100 ms vs. unrestricted viewing time) and expertise (art experts vs. laypersons), two other aspects that may impact the perception of art in online contexts. Moreover, we link these dimensions to a recent model of aesthetic experience [the Vienna Integrated Model of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Processes in Art Perception (VIMAP)]. Results suggest that color saturation does not exert a major influence on liking. Cognitive and emotional aspects (interest, confusion, surprise, and boredom), however, are affected – to different extents for experts and laypersons. For laypersons, the increase in color saturation led to more positive assessments of an artwork, whereas it resulted in increased confusion for art experts. This insight is particularly important when it comes to reproducing artworks digitally. Depending on the intended use, increasing or decreasing the color saturation of the digitally reproduced image might be most appropriate. We conclude with a discussion of these findings and address the question of why empirical aesthetics requires more precise dimensions to better understand the subtle processes that take place in the perception of today’s digitally reproduced art environment.

The creation of a global market for Colombian contemporary art through valuation and match-making

The global market for contemporary art is not quite as global, but concentrated in a few countries. This centralization notwithstanding, the Colombian art scene has achieved to internationalize to a larger extent in recent years. This article argues that two challenges make reaching a more global audience difficult: convincing international buyers of the value of art from the periphery and match-making of local sellers and international buyers. Based on these two activities, the article develops a four-fold typology of brokers that undertake either valuation, match-making, both, or none of these steps. The article identifies an empirical example corresponding to each of the ideal types, drawing on 36 semi-structured interviews with Colombian art experts. The article highlights the challenges and advantages associated with each type of brokerage. The analysis suggests that transactions are most encouraged if the party that determines the value also organizes the buyer-seller encounter. Match-makers that are not accepted valuators tend to affect the valuation of the good negatively, through their involvement in the transaction. Valuators that do not engage in match-making are helpful in establishing the value of art in Europe and the US, but it is not clear whether or not this results in transactions.

Giving the Art Greater weight in Art Psychology: RizbA, a Questionnaire for Formal Picture Analysis

Abstract In empirical art psychology and creativity research most studies focus on the psychological correlates of art. Only few go beyond treating artworks as categorical data (e.g. abstract vs. representational) and consider artworks in detail. In part this is due to the lack of reliable quantitative measurements. The rating instrument for two-dimensional pictorial works (RizbA) makes a difference to current research designs. The current study validates the questionnaire on a representative sample of contemporary visual art, consisting of 318 images depicting works by artists from different cultural areas dated to the 21st century. In a randomized test-retest design, the pictorial material was rated by 506 (T1) and 238 (T2) art experts using RizbA. Statistical quality criteria, such as item difficulty, capacity of differentiation, test-retest reliability, and intraclass correlation were calculated. Principal component analysis (PCA) and indices of factor similarity were computed. The overall test’s capacity for differentiation yields partial eta-squared of .31 (T1) and .40 (T2). Test-retest reliability is .86. PCA reveals an eight-factor solution, which is largely consistent across both measurement points. Tucker’s coefficient of congruence ranges between |.71| and |1.00|. Intraclass correlation coefficients are .86 (T1) and .73 (T2). This study indicates generalizability of the questionnaire to contemporary artworks. Although a conclusion on the factors’ structure cannot be drawn yet, results are very promising. As the first reliable quantitative tool for formal picture analysis, RizbA allows more detailedexamination of visual art and its psychological correlates. This broadens research methodology by giving art greater weight in art psychology and creativity research.

Global Modernization And Generational Evolution Of Interacting With Museum Visitors In The Middle Of The 20th Century

This paper aims to identify the reasons for the modernization of working with museum visitors. Today, in the context of globally imposed restrictive measures triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, the issue of introducing new and revising the existing forms of cultural and educational activities of museums has become more acute than ever before. New formats of work with visitors such as educational thematic routes, workshops, “behind the scenes”, games and quests, theater performances, meetings with experts of art and science are steadily gaining popularity. The article presents an attempt to determine the reasons for the modernization of the museum work with visitors on the example of publications of the professional journal of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) - “ICOM News”. There is a range of selected articles devoted to the forms of working with visitors in museums in various countries (there are 367 articles dedicated to this issue). As a result of the analysis of these publications, the main reasons for the emergence, development, and modernization of forms of work with the museum audience were identified.

Corona XXI – outside the frame

Corona XXI – outside the frame

Imago Dei: Metaphorical conceptualization of pictorial artworks within a participant-based framework

Abstract This article presents an exploratory analysis of the metaphoric structure of five artistic paintings within “Think aloud” protocols, in which a group of 14 English speakers with a low self-rated level of expertise in art and history of art expertise were asked to verbalize all their thoughts, ideas and impressions of the artworks. The main findings of this study can be summarized as follows: (1) multiple interpretations for the same artwork are possible, (2) the interpretations of the metaphorical structures described by the participants often diverge from those advanced by the researchers. These findings challenge the methods by which metaphor identification and analysis in pictorials is currently approached. As a matter of fact, most of the research in pictorial metaphors tends to reduce stimuli such as artistic paintings to unique metaphoric interpretations generally produced by a single researcher by means of introspection. By addressing this methodological problem in metaphor research, this article contributes to the development of a theoretical and operational participant-based framework that takes into account the role of metaphoric conceptualization within the domain of art and art cognition.

In situ macro X‐Ray fluorescence scanning on a Leonardo da Vinci portrait

Recently, an oil‐on‐panel painting, portraying Leonardo da Vinci, was found in the monastery of Camaldoli (Arezzo, Italy). The painting comes from a private donation and, over time, it never was moved from the monastery or loaned to museums or art galleries for exhibitions. Historians hypothesise that the painting could be a seventeenth‐century copy of a portrait or a self‐portrait of Leonardo da Vinci. Although, almost certainly, the panel was not signed by Leonardo, it raised a great interest for art experts, since the copy could be the outstanding testimony left to us of an original Leonardo's masterpiece, which is gone lost. The ICRCPAL in Rome, in collaboration with the ISPC‐CNR and the INFN‐LNS of Catania, started a scientific investigation of the painting based on the use of non‐invasive techniques. Macro X‐ray fluorescence imaging technique (MA‐XRF) was employed to document, for the first time, the nature of original pigments composing the pictorial and priming layers. The results allowed to better elucidate the painting technique, also to know the original look of degraded areas, suggesting an appropriate restoration and conservation policy. Novel information has been obtained concerning the pictorial process, since elemental distribution maps revealed an underpainting below the Leonardo portrait. Despite the cleaning process of the panel before its reuse, some pictorial details remained visible to the MA‐XRF analysis, allowing to infer the presumed figure hidden behind the figure of Leonardo.

Reviewing of Primary School Students’ Views On Impresionism In The Context of Visual Literacy

Bu araştırmanın amacı, ilkokul döneminde öğrenim gören öğrencilerin empresyonizm sanat akımına yönelik görüşlerini görsel okuryazarlık bağlamında incelemektir. Araştırma, amaç ve yöntem açısından betimleyici bir yaklaşım izlenerek yürütülmüştür. Araştırmanın çalışma grubu, 526 öğrenci ile oluşturulmuştur. Veri toplama araçlarını belirlemek amacıyla Empresyonizm sanat akımının üç dönemine ait birer manzara resmi, üç görsel sanatlar uzmanın görüşleri doğrultusunda seçilmiştir. Veriler, içerik analizi ve tanımlayıcı istatistik teknikleri ile analiz edilmiştir. Araştırmanın sonucunda, öğrencilerin Empresyonizm sanat akımının son dönemine ait eserlere daha çok ilgi duydukları bulunmuştur. Öğrencilerin ilgi duydukları tabloları, daha çok eserin konusunu temel alarak seçtikleri görülmüştür. Ayrıca öğrencilerin Empresyonizm sanat akımının son dönemine ait eserlerinin görsel okur ve görsel yazarlık unsurlarına yönelik açıklamalarının daha fazla olduğu belirlenmiştir. Çalışmada, elde edilen sonuçlardan hareketle ilkokul öğrencilerinin farklı sanat eserlerine yönelik görsel okuryazarlık çerçevesinde düşüncelerini ifade edebileceği ortamların oluşturulması önerilmektedir.

Art for Space

We investigate the overlapping of the concepts of prestige and success in art. To this end, we invited a group of art experts and a group of artists to select a small number of artworks that they deemed of high quality among those the crypto art gallery SuperRare displays. We then matched the selections with indicators of market success for the same artworks. We find that prestigious artworks selected by art experts and artists are also successful in the gallery marketplace, tracing an interesting link between prestige and success in the art context. We also observe a clear divergence between the roles of art expert and art maker (artist).

KONTRIBUSI UMAYYAH ANDALUSIA DALAM PENGEMBANGAN ILMU PENGETAHUAN

The Andalusian Umayyad dynasty was a continuation of the Damascus Umayyad which was destroyed on the Iberian peninsula, the entry of Islam in Andalusia was first brought by the commander Tharif bin Malik at the suggestion of Musa bin Nushair to the Caliph al-Walid. After conquering Christian kingdoms in almost all regions of Andalusia, the rulers of the Umayyad dynasty focused their attention on the development of science and science which made big names like Ibn Rushd, Ibn Firnas and Ibn Hazm. The Andalusian rulers opened the palace doors as wide as possible for discussion activities, provided laboratories and made the palace a gathering place for art experts and writers from all over to pour works and artistic creations. The government's attention to scientists made Andalusia a beacon of civilization at a time when European society lived in darkness and ignorance. The progress that was made during the Umayyad Andalusian era which would later inspire the birth of the Renaissance era which was marked by the industrial revolution in Europe.

Does beauty capture the eye, even if it's not (overtly) adaptive? A comparative eye-tracking study of spontaneous attention and visual preference with VAST abstract art

Studies have routinely shown that individuals spend more time spontaneously looking at people or at mimetic scenes that they subsequently judge to be more aesthetically appealing. This “beauty demands longer looks” phenomenon is typically explained by biological relevance, personal utility, or other survival factors, with visual attraction often driven by structural features (symmetry, texture), which may signify fitness and to which most humans tend to respond similarly. However, what of objects that have less overtly adaptive relevance? Here, we consider whether people also look longer at abstract art with little associative/mimetic content that they subsequently rate for higher aesthetic appeal. We employed the “Visual aesthetic sensitivity test” (VAST), which consists of pairs of matched abstract designs with one example of each pair argued to be objectively ‘aesthetically better’ in regards to low-level features, thus offering a potential contrast between ‘objective’ (physical feature-based) and ‘subjective’ (personal taste-based) assessments. Participants (29 women) first looked at image pairs without a specific task and then in three follow-up blocks indicated their preference within the pairs and rated the individual images for liking and for presumed ratings by an art expert. More preferred designs were looked at longer. However, longer looking only occurred in line with participants' subjective tastes. This suggests a general correlation of attention and visual beauty, which—in abstract art—may nonetheless be related to features that are not identified by experts as more generally appealing and thus may not directly map to other (more utility-related) stimuli types.

The limits of iconoclasm

Urban fallism in early revolutionary Russia was a political and aesthetic struggle rooted in imperial Russian civic culture. Few tsarist monuments were taken down in Moscow and Petrograd in 1917 and 1918 despite the violence of the social revolution and near universal hatred for the old regime. This selective iconoclasm occurred because the criteria for removal of statues in those cities reflected the aesthetic agenda of artists, critics, and campaigners from late imperial Russia who convinced Bolshevik politicians to accept their authority in art matters. After the February Revolution in 1917, public proposals for the large-scale dismantling of tsarist monuments received pushback from art professionals who argued that monuments should be protected according to their artistic value, not destroyed for their political representations. The Bolsheviks who took over in October 1917 deferred to such art experts on issues regarding monument demolition. The most recent monuments associated with official narratives and realist aesthetics of the deposed Nicholas II were removed, whilst others were protected as aesthetically desirable. Preservationists thus successfully changed the definition of political art from narrative content to aesthetic form and preserved some statues that political revolutionaries wanted to destroy. Today the Putin government seeks to protect Lenin monuments through a similar depoliticisation of revolutionary content inside a framework of historic preservation.

Color Symbolism in the Works by Raphael and Mozart

Color symbolism in the works by Raphael and Mozart has not been studied thoroughly enough yet due to the complexity of this topic. The basis for the analysis of Raphael’s and Mozart’s creative approaches was G.V. Chicherin’s method, aimed at revealing common and different aspects in them. The researcher has discovered internal relations between works of various kinds of art, between art and philosophy more than once. Famous poets and composers (A. Pushkin, J.W. Goethe, F. List) and also art experts and philosophers have studied Raphael’s and Mozart’s creative ideas and wrote fundamental works dedicated to various aspects of the artist’s and composer’s artwork. According to J.W. Goethe’s and F. List’s studies, Raphael’s and Mozart’s creations appear to be congenial. Romantic poets and artists took up Goethe’s and List’s ideas and developed them in their own fashion. E.T.A. Hoffmann was the first to pay attention to color symbolism in Mozart’s works, and the coloration of Raphael’s paintings influenced K. Bryullov. In the 20th century, G.V. Chicherin and H. Abert made their contribution to investigating a possible interrelation between Raphael’s and Mozarts’ works of art. In the article, the author considers an interpretation of the color on the fresco «The School of Athens» by Raphael and also in the songs and operas by Mozart.

Loss and beauty: how experts and novices judge paintings with lacunae.

Lacunae are the voids left by missing or damaged pieces of artwork, and their presence constitutes a central problem in the aesthetic experience of viewing artwork. However, we hypothesize that experience and knowledge of art might differentially modify viewer reactions to degraded artwork. Here, we investigated the implicit and explicit attitudes of art experts and non-experts towards the aesthetics of perfectly intact and lacunar artwork. Sections of Flemish oil paintings were displayed with or without a degradation mask, which mimics lacunae. Three groups differing in their interaction with art were assessed: art restorers, art historians, and art viewers lacking any art-related professional expertise. We found that (1) professional experience/expertise in art restoration affected implicit, but not explicit, attitudes among restorers, (2) art historians had positive explicit, but not implicit, attitudes toward intact artwork, and (3) it was difficult for non-specialist viewers to understand or appreciate artwork that was not perfectly intact. We further discuss the implications of these results to other forms of aesthetic evaluation and expertise. Modified preferences in experts may improve knowledge of the plastic changes that occur in the cognition of aesthetics and may thus be of significant relevance to enhance the effectiveness of art conservation programs.

Perceived cognitive challenge predicts eye movements while viewing contemporary paintings.

Contemporary art is often challenging for the viewer, especially when it violates classic rules of representation. Also, viewers usually have little knowledge about this type of art, making its reception even more difficult. Our main research question was how the cognitive challenge associated with contemporary art affects eye movement. In particular, we aimed to assess the impact on eye movements of (a) object-related cognitive challenge in terms of image properties (syntactic and semantic violations) and (b) subject-related cognitive challenge (composite subjective estimate of image inconsistency, ambiguity, and complexity). The eye movements of expert and naive participants were recorded while they freely viewed digital copies of contemporary paintings (four groups of five paintings each, differing in presence of semantic and syntactic violations). We found that neither violations nor art expertise alone predicted eye movements, although perceived, subjectively experienced cognitive challenge did. In particular, subject-related cognitive challenge was associated with an increase in visual exploration (longer and more numerous fixations, bigger area of exploration, longer viewing time). The roles of object-related and subject-related indicators of cognitive challenge in perception of contemporary art are discussed.

ЕСТРАДОЗНАВСТВО – НАУКА ПРО ЕСТРАДНЕ МИСТЕЦТВО

У статті актуалізується проблема об’єктивно визначити місце сучасної естради в національному культурному просторі, в цьому контексті розбираються поняття «елітарне мистецтво» і «масова культура». Аналізується рівень присвячених заданій тематиці наукових розвідок представників академічного спрямування та дослідників естради. Порушуються питання специфічних рис естради, що знаходять відображення у її різножанровості і не мають місця в інших видах сценічного мистецтва. Пропонується легітимація у вітчизняному науковомуі поле поняття «естрадознавство» як напряму мистецтвознавства, що вивчає естрадне мистецтво, його особливості й загальні динамічні процеси, пов’язані з розвитком національного мистецтва естради, а також вказані концептуально-методологічні основи нової для України мистецької науки. Спираючись на праці дослідників естради, визначено та охарактеризовано сім базових засад естрадного мистецтва – відкритість, легкість, синтетичність, лаконізм, імпровізаційність, мобільність, індивідуальність. Відкритість естради ґрунтується на активному діалозі артиста з глядацьким залом; легкість окреслює специфіку сприйняття естрадного твору, що не потребує попередньої підготовки глядача; синтетичність обумовлює поєднання в естрадному номері елементів різних видів мистецтв; лаконізм передбачає високу концентрацію у творі як змістовності, так і засобів акторської виразності; імпровізаційність є креативною складовою сценічної поведінки артиста естради, його відкритістю на ту чи іншу реакцію публіки; мобільність передбачає здатність артиста до виконання сценічної діяльності за будь-яких умов (професійна мобільність) та оперативне реагування на запити суспільства (соціальна мобільність); індивідуальність артиста виявляється у постійному пошуку оригінальності, самобутності, індивідуальної виконавської манери, власного сценічного образу. Зазначено, що базові засади естрадного мистецтва є універсальними для усіх його видів та жанрів. Конкретизуються відмінності естрадного мистецтва і світової індустрії розваг (шоу-бізнесу), яка є складовою масової культури. Відзначається дефіцит українських спеціалістів-естрадознавців, зокрема фахівців з вокальної естради у освітньому процесі підготовки молодих естрадних артистів.
 Ключові слова: сучасна естрада, елітарне мистецтво, масова культура, специфіка, естрадознавство, критерії оцінювання, джаз.

Warm, lively, rough? Assessing agreement on aesthetic effects of artworks.

The idea that simple visual elements such as colors and lines have specific, universal associations—for example red being warm—appears rather intuitive. Such associations have formed a basis for the description of artworks since the 18th century and are still fundamental to discourses on art today. Art historians might describe a painting where red is dominant as “warm,” “aggressive,” or “lively,” with the tacit assumption that beholders would universally associate the works’ certain key forms with specific qualities, or “aesthetic effects”. However, is this actually the case? Do we actually share similar responses to the same line or color? In this paper, we tested whether and to what extent this assumption of universality (sharing of perceived qualities) is justified. We employed—for the first time—abstract artworks as well as single elements (lines and colors) extracted from these artworks in an experiment in which participants rated the stimuli on 14 “aesthetic effect” scales derived from art literature and empirical aesthetics. To test the validity of the assumption of universality, we examined on which of the dimensions there was agreement, and investigated the influence of art expertise, comparing art historians with lay people. In one study and its replication, we found significantly lower agreement than expected. For the whole artworks, participants agreed on the effects of warm-cold, heavy-light, and happy-sad, but not on 11 other dimensions. Further, we found that the image type (artwork or its constituting elements) was a major factor influencing agreement; people agreed more on the whole artwork than on single elements. Art expertise did not play a significant role and agreement was especially low on dimensions usually of interest in empirical aesthetics (e.g., like-dislike). Our results challenge the practice of interpreting artworks based on their aesthetic effects, as these effects may not be as universal as previously thought.

What Experts Appreciate in Patterns: Art Expertise Modulates Preference for Asymmetric and Face-Like Patterns

This study set out to investigate whether and how aesthetic evaluations of different types of symmetric, as well as abstract vs. representational patterns are modulated by art expertise. To this end, we utilized abstract asymmetric, symmetric, and “broken” patterns slightly deviating from symmetry, as well as more representational patterns resembling faces (also symmetric or broken). While it has already been shown that symmetry preference decreases with art expertise, it was still unclear whether an already established relationship between art expertise and preference for abstract over representational art can be similarly found as a preference for abstract over representational patterns, as these are non-art objects. Nevertheless, we found profound differences in aesthetic preferences between art experts and laypersons. While art experts rated asymmetric patterns higher than laypersons, as expected, they rated face-like patterns lower than laypersons. Also, laypersons rated all other types of patterns higher than asymmetric patterns, while art experts rated the other patterns similar or lower than asymmetric patterns. We found this both for liking and for interest ratings. As no differences between art experts and laypersons were found regarding memory recognition of new and old patterns, this effect is not likely due to differences in memory performance. In sum, this study further extends our knowledge about the influence of art expertise on aesthetic appreciation.