Art Appreciation: Visual Perception Skills and Knowledge

Prior Knowledge and Perception
A person's prior knowledge can affect how they perceive things visually. Prior knowledge carries expectations and biases based on what a person knows and has experienced. We combine what we see with what we already know, and we use this information to make assumptions when viewing new stimuli.
We use our knowledge and experience to interpret familiar scenes and to provide a basis for unfamiliar scenes. For example, if a person encountered a familiar street sign, but part of the text on the sign was missing or obscured, based on prior knowledge of the color, shape, and visible text, the person would still perceive the sign as meaning what they expected, such as 'YIELD' or 'STOP.'
Without this prior knowledge, someone would not know how to interpret the sign with the missing text or might interpret it erroneously. Our prior knowledge is affected by, and subsequently affects, our visual perception.

Prior Knowledge and Artwork
A person's prior knowledge can give them information to analyze an artwork differently than someone without that knowledge. Prior knowledge about an artist and their process or an art movement can help someone understand and appreciate an artwork more than someone who has no knowledge of these concepts. For example, someone not familiar with the artist Jackson
Pollock and his method of action painting might dismiss his artworks as an unskilled mess. With prior knowledge of his intention and process, someone can appreciate his method of 'action painting' and using his movements to express himself on canvas, moving away from figurative representation, as well as the tradition of putting his canvas on an easel. The background knowledge of Pollock's significance in art history, and the significance of his new process at the time, can affect how a viewer will perceive his artwork.

Beliefs and Perception
Our beliefs can affect our visual perception in many ways.
One way that beliefs can affect visual perception is confirmation bias, which is when someone sees only evidence and information that will confirm their beliefs. Even if the visual information contradicts what someone already believes, confirmation bias can cause them to interpret visual information based on their biases and come to erroneous conclusions based on these biases.
A person with strong religious beliefs might see religious symbols and religious significance in images and in their surroundings. Someone with racist or sexist attitudes could automatically view images of different cultures, or races, or images of women, in a negative way, without delving deeper into what they are seeing. To avoid judging visual input based on bias and beliefs, it can help to have background information and facts about the visual input and to have objective criteria to analyze and judge the visual input on.

Beliefs and Artwork
Beliefs can affect our perception of an artwork by bringing preconceived notions to our observations of the artwork and affecting our judgement of the work. A person with strong religious beliefs could enjoy and appreciate religious-themed artworks from medieval artists and understand the symbolism used throughout. On the other hand, someone without religious beliefs may immediately dismiss the artwork, finding it uninteresting. They would not appreciate the craftsmanship and the significance of these periods of art, based on their beliefs.
The understanding of the concept of art itself can also influence perception. If people believe that artwork is strictly painting, drawing, and sculpture, they would dismiss performance art or many of the new modern art genres as not actually being forms of artwork. Their beliefs about what constitutes authentic artwork would cause them to fail to examine these forms further, and they could not appreciate these artworks as they were intended.

Observation Methods and Perception
The way in which we observe visual stimuli can affect how we perceive them. When viewing an object from only one angle, the viewer can miss information that could be gained by looking at it from all sides. Looking at an object from high, or a bird's-eye view, can look very different from looking at it with a worm's-eye view, or from below. The distance from which an object is viewed can affect perception as well. Looking at something closely can give clues about the details of an object, whereas looking at it from a distance can give a better idea of the overall object. The length of time that an object is viewed can also affect perception. Looking at an object at a glance will give less visual information than taking the time to observe and study it.

Observation Methods and Artwork
Different observation methods can affect how a person perceives a sculpture. Sculptures are generally meant to be viewable and observed from all sides, and viewing a piece from one side, or from a certain angle can make the viewer miss information. If a large installation sculpture is viewed only from one angle, or only from close up, the viewer could miss the effect of the entire sculpture. It should be viewed from as many angles as possible, and as a whole in addition to close up.
A large painting can be viewed closely, to see the details of brushstrokes and layered color. Viewing a painting from a close distance can also show the perspective of the artist as they were creating it. It can also be viewed from a distance, to capture the entire artwork as a whole and get the effect that the artist was trying to communicate.

Multisensory Experiences and Perception
Our senses can affect each other, and they can even affect how we perceive things visually. Throughout the day, we are barraged by sights and sounds, and we must prioritize what we pay attention to and what we ignore.
A sound that is recognized as alarming, such as a car horn or an ambulance siren, will take precedence over other sounds and at the same time draw our gaze. A pleasing or interesting sound can also attract our attention, encouraging us to look in its direction to see the source. If an artwork were to incorporate sound, the types of sounds and directions they are coming from can aid in directing the viewer's eye throughout the artwork and even create a focal point.
In other instances, sound can also be distracting. It will be easier to concentrate on the details of a painting in a quiet room, rather than in a noisy, crowded room. An outdoor sculptural installation near a noisy road can be more difficult to examine than one in a museum gallery.

Viewpoints and Artwork
Artwork can appear differently to different people depending on their viewpoints. Artwork can be viewed from a historical or personal perspective, or from a subjective or objective viewpoint. This painting, Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette from 1876 by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, can be analyzed in multiple ways. From a historical viewpoint, it is important to consider the significance of the artwork in the impressionist style, capturing a fleeting moment on a Sunday afternoon in Paris and the dappled light through the trees. From a personal perspective, someone might react favorably to the warm and inviting scene or unfavorably if they do not like crowds.
Objectively, this artwork can be analyzed using the elements and principles of art, as well as the skill used to execute the rendering. Subjectively, a person might prefer that paintings are rendered more realistically or that a subject is more posed instead of the artist capturing a casual scene.


Creating Meaning
Meaning can be created in artwork in many different ways.
Sometimes the meaning of an artwork is immediately obvious and uncontested, and other times it is more complex and subject to various interpretations.
Understanding the culture and context in which the artwork is created, as well as the art movement it fits into, can provide clues to its meaning.
Symbols are used to add meaning in ways that are not immediately clear, and they are usually not the focal point of an artwork.
Rather, the artist relies on the viewer to see and decipher the symbols. These can have obvious meanings or rely on background or historical knowledge to understand their significance. Subject matter can be used to convey meaning in a more obvious manner. The artist's choice of subject and how it is portrayed can show meaning and intent. A. artist can also use elements and principles to create meaning in their artwork. Colors can signify feelings and moods. Size, placement, emphasis, and repetition can all convey strong ideas or the dominance of one idea over another.

Symbols
Symbols incorporated into artwork are interpreted by the viewer based on their knowledge of these clues and the context they are placed within. This artwork, The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger, was painted in 1533. At first glance, this seems to be a portrait of two men, likely ambassadors based on the title, dressed in fine clothing and posing in front of a small set of shelves. The shelves contain many seemingly random objects, but they were chosen and placed for their symbolic significance within the context of the painting. The globe and maps signify the age of exploration. The gloves and dagger held by the men symbolize authority and luxury at the time. The elongated shape on the floor is a stretched-out skull, which would look more correct when viewed from the bottom left of the painting. The skull generally symbolizes death. There are also symbols throughout the painting referring to the division between the Catholics and Protestants at the time: a mostly hidden crucifix in the top left and the hymnal juxtaposed with a lute with a broken string. Symbols placed throughout the artwork add meaning and intent to this seemingly innocuous portrait.


Creativity and Critical Thinking
Artistic problems can be solved through creativity and innovation by brainstorming to come up with multiple solutions. Artists solve problems involved with what media and venue to use to express themselves and how to best get their message to their viewers. They decide how to use the elements and principles to convey their message, what subject to portray, what style to use, and even how to explain their artistic process to others. Problem solving using creativity and critical thinking can occur in many ways, including creating thumbnail sketches, keeping a notebook of ideas to draw from for artwork, and experimenting with materials. Artists can brainstorm ideas and come up with the best solution for their current problem. The artist should first assess the problem and decide what they are trying to solve. They can then come up with multiple ideas through writing, sketching, experimenting, and even viewing others' artwork, and then they can choose the best solution and build upon it.

Aesthetics and Expressive Features
Aesthetics is a philosophy in art that seeks to create non-subjective criteria for the judgement of beauty. Aesthetics asks questions such as 'What is art?' 'What is beauty?' and 'What makes art beautiful?'
Aesthetics in art also questions what makes a painting good and whether a realistic painting is 'better' than an abstract one. The aesthetics movement of the late 19th century favored the beauty of art over practical or moral narratives.
Expressive features in artwork include how the artists uses the elements and principles to communicate mood and feeling. An artist can communicate through the composition of the artwork, imagery, text, color, or a juxtaposition of opposing elements, among other things. These are the characteristics of an artwork that stir emotion within the viewer. The viewer could feel conflict and opposition through strong, jagged lines or contrasts of colors. They could also feel peace and harmony through the use of analogous colors and soft, flowing elements throughout the artwork.

Context
Context describes the related conditions or circumstances around which something occurs. To understand an artwork, it helps to understand its context or the circumstances in which the artist was working in at the time. This can include their environment, the historical events and traditions that were happening, their cultural values, the social movements at the time, and even the artist's personal values and commitments. Recognizing art in context includes looking at it in perspective - not only of how you see it at the moment, but also how it fits into the history of art, what it was a reaction to, what movement it followed, and what it preceded. You could judge a piece of Dada art simply by its own merit and appearance, but understanding the context of it, the feelings of cynicism and sarcasm as well as their intention of creating antiart, will carry more meaning to your understanding of the artwork and give you a broader perspective of what the artist intended.

Media and Techniques
Media is the plural of medium, and it refers to the physical materials used by an artist to create artwork. Examples of media include paint, oil, clay, ink, metal, or any other material used to create artwork. Artistic media have changed and evolved throughout the years, with the invention and improvement of materials such as the advent of acrylic paint or the invention of tubes for paint portability.
Techniques for artwork include the ways in which an artist uses their technical skills to create artwork. This includes specialized methods for different media. Drawing techniques will differ from painting techniques, and they will also differ from the specialized methods used for printmaking or sculpting. An artist can explore new techniques, learn techniques from books, classes, or studying artwork, and use these techniques in their artwork to improve their methods or change the focus of their art.

Museums and Preservation
The profession of art conservation is devoted to the preservation of artwork for the future. Art conservators protect artwork from future deterioration and damage and restore damaged artwork to as closely to the original form as possible while preserving its integrity. They also examine and document the state of the artwork as it is discovered, or as it is acquired, and they seek to keep it from changing over time. Conservation includes controlling the environment in which art is exhibited, transported, or stored, including the light, temperature, and humidity. They prepare for disaster, control pests, and protect artwork from damage. A conservator must decide on the most appropriate actions that should be taken to restore or preserve an artwork. The process of preventative conservation, to minimize or prevent any further damage to artwork, relies on multidisciplinary fields including science, chemistry, biology, and engineering, as well as art.

Golden Mean and Hierarchical Proportion
The golden mean, also known as the golden ratio, golden number, or Fibonacci number, is a geometric proportion regarded as a way to add beauty, harmony, and balance to a composition. The proportion is 1 to 1.618, and this is used throughout art and architecture as a basis for design.
Sometimes this is used as a single rectangle and a single square in these proportions, but this can be divided again and again to further subdivide the composition. These proportions were used by the ancient Greeks when designing the Parthenon and by Michelangelo in many of his works, among others.
Hierarchical proportion is a technique used by artists to emphasize parts of a sculpture or other artwork. The artist would use unnatural or unusual proportions to depict his or her subjects, bringing the viewer's attention to the more important figures depicted in the art. The artist might show a person of higher status as being larger than someone who is of lower status or who is subservient. Beginning in Renaissance times, artists began to depict their subjects in more realistic proportions in relation to each other.

Juxtaposition, Appropriation, and Transformation
Juxtaposition is the placement of contrasting elements next to each other to create an effect. Artists will contrast elements in their artwork to draw the viewer's eye, emphasizing the similarities and differences of the juxtaposed elements. An artist can also juxtapose imagery or concepts to relay their ideas. René Magritte's painting, Memory of a Journey from 1955, juxtaposes a giant feather against the Leaning Tower of Pisa, using scale to grab the viewer's attention.
Appropriation refers to the borrowing of preexisting objects or images in artwork with little to no transformation. Marcel Duchamp's
'readymades' are an example of appropriation; he used preexisting objects in his works without changing them or changing them very little.
Transformation refers to the changing of an image or object to present it in a new way. Artists might start with a preexisting idea or object but transform it and use their own style and technique to make it their own artwork.