This book is more than an introduction to the psychology of art appreciation, it puts into perspective the research carried out within the area and offers a new understanding of the relationship between art and viewer. A number of studies within the psycho-physical, cognitive, psychoanalytic, and existential-phenomenological schools of thought are presented in order to demonstrate how their views on the appreciation of visual art vary. Five different types of art appreciation, ranging from a spontaneous preference for a work of art to a blissful experience of trancendence, are identified and described.

Creative Art: Methods and Materials educates readers about a variety of art methods and the ways different civilizations have used them in artistic expression. Each of the fourteen chapters is designed around a specific art method and material, and includes examples of art works and the artists who created them. Students learn about bronze casting, stone carving, clay sculpture, woodcuts and posters, glass work, and installation art. Each method is matched to artists both ancient and modern. Rather than adhering to a standard approach that focuses on white, male, European artists, the book broadens the student's perspective by including often overlooked female artists. Global in approach and comprehensive in coverage of arts forms, representations, and styles throughout history, Creative Art has been developed for sixteen-week courses in art appreciation, or introductory survey courses in art history.

Those who love art are guaranteed to further expand their knowledge of this form of expression when using this comprehensive 3-panel (6-page) guide, which examines in detail each type of art--from printmaking to photography--that currently exists. Key definitions, historical periods and lists of well-known art pieces are included for easy access.

This book is a source book for the art educator for the teaching of art appreciation at all levels.

The art of appreciation -- "Audiences of the future" : the Robert Mayer Concerts for Children (1924-1939) -- Victorians on radio : Music and the Ordinary Listener (1926-1939) -- Music education on film : Instruments of the Orchestra (1946) -- Outside the ivory tower : extra-mural music at the University of Birmingham (1948-1964) -- The Avant-garde goes to school : O Magnum Mysterium (1960) -- Epilogue : the middlebrow in an age of cultural pluralism.