Mike; Your response assumes that there is a right way to appreciate art. I go with E. Gombrich on this and he said that there are no wrong reasons to appreciate art. Of course, I think there is a difference between art appreciation and a serious, scholarly study of art history or of aesthetics, but even there one's knowing about the art and experiencing it are not necessarily separate or connected.
Thus people may appreciate art for all sorts of reasons and in all sorts of ways. No common agreement as to qualitative whys or hows is required. WC --- On Tue, 11/4/08, Mike Mallory <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From: Mike Mallory <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: Appreciating art > To: [email protected] > Date: Tuesday, November 4, 2008, 6:22 PM > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "GEOFF CREALOCK" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 2:27 PM > Subject: Re: Appreciating art > > > > William: You asserted that "anyone can learn to > appreciate art". I claim > > that however many can, few do. > > ______________________________________________ > > > I don't believe that the question, "Do people > appreciate art?" is best > answered digitally: Yes/No. It is analog. Most people > appreciate art to > some degree. Most people may have, as WC has suggested, a > limited or > "shallow" capacity for the appreciation of art, > but they have some. > > How much is not enough to count? How is it to be measured? > - The ability to > identify an author/artist? - The ability to identify the > style? - The > ability to pick out expensive pieces from a collection? - > The receptivity > to emotive content? > > I'm not at all sure that academic knowledge is all that > important. It's > interesting to me, but is it necessary for the appreciation > of art? > Sometimes I think it can detract from the appreciation of > art. > > Mike Mallory
