Realism by Linda Nochlin (review)

Books 259 research from many areas with new and old aesthetic theories to form a synthesis of key problems, if not answers, for aesthetic behavior. The book is addressed to both psychologists and specialists in art. As a result, it is rich in content, while carefully explaining terms and concepts not usually familiar to the nonpsychologist. The author traces the history of research and interest in aesthetic behavior from G. T. Fechner in the 1860’s, through the Gestalt and psychoanalytic theorists of the early 20th century, to the present science of psychobiology. He cites the formation of the International Association for Empirical Aesthetics in 1965 and the revitalization of Division 10 (Psychology and the Arts) of the American Psychological Association as evidence of a renewed interest in studying aesthetic behavior. While questions about aesthetic behavior have been discussed for thousands of years, little progress was made towards formulating new answers. The author attributes this to several factors: art and its creation was held in awe as a supernatural phenomenon, making objective observations difficult; the value of art was confused with information about art; art was assumed to have a unitary ‘essence’ that had to be identified and used as a starting point for discussion; art was treated as a ‘thing apart’ isolated instead of linked with other phenomenon; writers on art were preoccupied with uniqueness rather than similarity of art objects and taste and, finally, there was an excessive concentration on verbal judgements and a corresponding lack of experiments using nonverbal measures of aesthetic behavior. We in art education are particularly guilty of the latter. Much of research and journal space on art education has been devoted to the study of verbal responses to artistic stimuli. The author points out that ‘. . . although we know that verbal expressions of preference must reveal a great deal about nonverbal forms of behavior, we rarely know exactly what’. Breakthroughs in research on the motivational importance of factors like novelty, complexity, surprise and ambiguity and their relationships to aesthetic behavior have caused a resurgence of interest in what the author calls ‘the new experimental aesthetics’-the study of the behaviors and biological origins of the processes of creating, performing, appreciating and seeking exposure to works of art. Berlyne reviews this research and discusses the implications of it. There are particularly good chapters on ‘Informational Aesthetics’ (information theory applied to aesthetics) and on neurophysiological and psychological studies of arousal, exploratory and motivation behavior. Modern Art and the Modern Mind. J. P. Hodin. Press of Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, Ohio, 1972. 365 pp., illus. 812.95. Reviewed by Ellen Dissanayake* In these essays and addresses Hodin offers a framework in which modern art can be viewed and prescribes the direction it must take in order to escape from its current predicament, the ‘“headline mentality”, banality, emphasis on entertainment value, surprise and novelty’, which he deplores. He traces the present crisis in modern art (and life) to the disruptive influence of empirical, analytical science and technology. Their domination has produced a deficiency in human spiritual faculties that Hodin believes can be remedied by science (properly understood) and art themselves , assisted by the close cooperation of the art critic who, like himself, is aware of the necessity to rediscover fundamental values of thought and to invent ‘numbers’ for a transcendental reality. The essays, written between seven and 25 years ago, show their age and do not cite in their voluminous footnotes more recent and persuasive critics who also analyze the adverse effects of science and technology on the spiritual life of modern man. Hodin’s faith that the villains *51/5 Bahirawakanda, Kandy, Sri Lanka. can heal the incision they have themselves caused is currently shared by few. Moreover, the confidence behind Hodin’s statement that ‘it is in the West that the most vital and valuable development has taken place, and where a new culture is being developed which might solve the spiritual crisis of mankind . . . .’ is being increasingly undermined. One can also object to the tautological nature of his primary thesis: according to Hodin the influence of the scientific worldview on modern art is shown either directly in emulating the scientific mentality or indirectly by...