Analyzes and critiques the faith in the social powers of the arts which allows American intellectuals to maintain a loyalty to democracy in the abstract while deploring people's concrete cultural practices. Offers John Dewey's belief in "art as experience" as an alternative that can refigure and benefit American social thought. (SR)

This document is an annotated bibliography of currently available instructional materials and resources for use in art education. As teachers strive to implement new emphases on content and learning experiences related to newer aspects of art education such as aesthetics, art criticism, and art history, as well as creative art experiences, they…

In order to understand the place of Herbert Read both in 20th century aesthetics and art education, one needs to carefully consider the entire field of English art and aesthetics from 1900 to the beginning of the Second World War. This time frame was dominated by the thoughts of Roger Fry and Clive Bell, and works both literary and visual, of the…

This paper discusses the ideas of Conrad Fiedler, a 19th century German philosopher of art, concerning art criticism, or the judging of works of visual art. In addition to a brief biography of Conrad Fiedler, the paper's main subject is Fiedler's ideas on art criticism as expressed in his book "On Judging Works of Visual Art" (1876,…

The underlying constructs for an experimental battery (EB) consisting of artistic judgment tests--the Design Judgment Test (DJT), the Visual Designs Test (VDT), Proportion Appraisal (PA), and the Visual Aesthetic Sensitivity Test--were studied. Scores for 1,686 clients of the Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation's aptitude-testing service were…

Focuses on making the distinction between aesthetics and pragmatics within the realm of design education, particularly architecture. States that aesthetics is typically associated with beauty, while pragmatics is a way to demonstrate that a frank approach has been utilized. (CMK)

Examines the influence of novelty of pose and facial expressions on college students determination of a photograph's artistic merit. Moderate novelty of poses and positive facial expressions received the greatest endorsement. However, some deviation occurred between considerations of artistic and photographic merit. (MJP)

Argues that in an art world dominated by critical theory the contribution of painting to society and education is not firmly established. Reviews challenges from critical theory to painting and constructs an alternative relationship between them. Articulates how concepts in critical theory are informed and extended by painting. (DSK)

Explores a set of principles as a guide to art interpretation in "Criticizing Art: Understanding the Contemporary." States that responding to works of art is a means to interpretation, focuses on personal and communal interpretations, and addresses the issues of multiple interpretations of artworks. Includes references. (CMK)

Presents an activity for fifth-grade students that demonstrates how to research works of art from different points of view and that also introduces them to a variety of art careers. Provides a format for researching and writing about a work of art, a list of materials, and instruction for the activity. (CMK)

Discusses the reaction of feminist students at Vanderbilt University (Tennessee) to a photograph, "Heaven and Hell" (A. Serrano), on the cover of the book "Arresting Images: Impolitic Art and Uncivil Actions" (S. Dubin). Their position that the photograph promotes violence toward women is one interpretation; another is that it…

Discusses fairness in student evaluation, focusing on art criticism as a metaphor in which the evaluator transforms into something akin to an art critic. The article explains what the art criticism approach looks like in the classroom and describes the process of art criticism (description, analysis, interpretation, judgment). )SM)

Examines postmodernist art and its impact on architecture and visual art in the United States. States that this genre of art has affected dramatically object art, such as furniture design. Contends that postmodernism can be traced through societal and personal histories. (CFR)

Explains that looking at a picture book as a work of art entails that one explores the relationship between images, the combination and arrangement of images, style and story, use of color, the relationship between the meaning of the text and images, and the form of the book. (CMK)

Compares works selected from the permanent collection of the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, an art museum at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada. Provides two sets of painting reproductions, information about the artists, transcripts of the telephone-accessed comments for viewers of each set, additional background information, and suggestions for…