Toward a Psychology of Art: Collected Essays

by Rudolf Arnheim

Presents an interpretation of the expression of art and the relationship between this psychology and the art form. Bibliogs

Genres: Art, Psychology, Essays, Nonfiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 1966

About the author

Rudolf Arnheim (1904–2007) was a German-born author, art and film theorist, and perceptual psychologist. He learned Gestalt psychology from studying under Max Wertheimer and Wolfgang Köhler at the University of Berlin and applied it to art. His magnum opus was his book Art and Visual Perception: A Psychology of the Creative Eye (1954). Other major books by Arnheim have included Visual Thinking (1969), and The Power of the Center: A Study of Composition in the Visual Arts (1982). Art and Visual Perception was revised, enlarged and published as a new version in 1974, and it has been translated into fourteen languages. He lived in Germany, Italy, England, and America. Most notably, Arnheim taught at Sarah Lawrence College, Harvard University, and the University of Michigan. He has greatly influenced art history and psychology in America.

Reviews

[Ann M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting points, kind of dry reading.