THE PSYCHOLOGY OF AESTHETICS
 

Monet's japanese bridge in the garden at Giverny, June, 1997.  Other portrayals of the bridge, by Monet, can be accessed below in the Miscellany section.
 
 

PSYC 444-SPRING 1999- 226 WOLF- T, Th  930 - 1045  John P. McLaughlin    831-2752,   johnmcl@udel.edu Office: 213 Wolf

 

Readings in the semester will be from (1) a text: Solso, R.L. (1994) Cognition and the Visual Arts, Cambridge, MA and (2) selected articles that will be on regular and electronic reserve in Morris Library. The electronic versions can be downloaded via Netscape and the Library will provide a set of instructions for doing this. Click here to view the articles . Please note that the articles are available on the library's server only during those semesters in which the course is actually taught. A few additional pieces by me will also be available on email. In the schedule below, articles are indicated with the senior author's name and chapters from Solso by chapter numbers.

There will be two essay exams, each of which will contribute a third of your total grade. The remaining third will come from a 3-4K-word term-paper and a short in-class talk based on your paper. In addition, I will post material, e.g., study guides, to this page. The introduction that I have written is to be found below, after the syllabus, in the Readings section.


 



 
 
 
 
 

DATE TOPIC READING
FEB 9 INTRODUCTION McL-INTRO;BORNSTEIN1-29
11        "
16 VISION CH.1
18 BRAIN CH.2
23 LATERALITY McL-HEMISPHERIC SPEC.
25     "
MAR 2 FORM CH.3; HOEGE
4 VISUAL COGNITION CH.4; TEUBER
9 CONTEXT CH.5
11 EYE MOVEMENTS CH.6
16 AROUSAL BERLYNE; BORNSTEIN 29-35
18 TYPICALITY MARTINDALE,et al; BOSELIE
23 REVIEW
25 MIDTERM
3/27-4/4 SPRING BREAK
APR 6 TYPICALITY II LANGLOIS & ROGGMAN; HEKKERT & SNELDERS
8 AROUSAL REVISITED MARTINDALE; KONECNI
13 PERSPECTIVE CH. 7
15       " CH. 8
20 CANONS CH. 9
22 EXPERTISE SCHMIDT, et al
27 EVOLUTION DISSANAYAKE;BORNSTEIN 54-73
29 DEVELOPMENT BORNSTEIN 40-54; GARDNER
MAY 4 CREATIVITY, PERSONALITY ZUCKERMAN, et al; BORNSTEIN 35-40
6 PAPERS
11      "
13      "
18 REVIEW

Another view in Monet's gardens. June 1997.
 
 
 

Museum Web Pages. Click on the museum of your choice in the list below to see what displays it is offering.

 Web Museum

 Museum of Modern Art

 Musee d'Orsay

 National Gallery of Art

 National Museum of American Art

 The Prado

 Philadelphia Museum of Art

 Metropolitan Museum of Art

 National Portrait Gallery, London

 Hermitage Museum

 Tate Gallery
 


 On-line Art Museum: see Van Gogh's Van Goghs; The Whitney's American Century
 
 

READINGS


 




  Introduction.

 Hemispheric effects

 Gestalt psychology

 Eye and op-art. Some illustrations are not yet available
      Diagram of the cellular anatomy of the macula
      Diagram of the retina-geniculate-cortex connections

  Midterm study guide
 

  Final-exam study guide
 
 

Medieval stained glass. Sainte Chappell, Paris, 1997.
 
 


PICTURES THAT FIGURE IN THE TEXT OR IN EXPERIMENTAL WORK


 





    1.- Olympia

Click here to enlarge  Olympia

2. Van Gogh's Wheat Field with Crows

Click here to enlarge

3. Goya's May 3,1808

 Click here to enlarge

4. DaVinci's The Last Supper

 Click here to enlarge
 

5. Duchamps' Nude Descending a Staircase


 Click here to enlarge

 Click here for X.J. Kennedy's poem.

6. Vasarely's Arcturus 2.

 
 

MISCELLANY


 




A Web Site that provides details on the work, The Painter's Eye. Click here.

  Two views of Monet's Japanese bridge. One was done early in his time in Giverny, while the other was done when his cataracts were advanced.

   Two paintings by Monet of the garden and house at Giverny. One was done using the eye from which a cataract was removed. The other was done using the eye that still had a cataract.

  An intimate view of a gallery opening .

Harry Clarke's Geneva Window.

Text and original graphics are copyrighted, 1999 by John P. McLaughlin, all rights reserved.

Last updated June 29, 1999