What ’s your favorite meal ? Logically , your answer depends on the foods you ’re conversant with . Now here ’s another doubtfulness : Who ’s your favored painter ? Turns out the same system of logic does n’t utilize . A new study that pits Thomas Kinkade against nineteenth 100 painter John Everett Millais has proven that some graphics in reality is objectively unspoilt or bad — contradicting what scientists antecedently don about aesthetics .
The mind that we wish what we ’re familiar with has its etymon in economic theories about consumer choice — the thinking goes that familiarity with nutrient , medicine , or merchandise “ breeds positive feelings , ” as theThe Economistexplains . The same thing has always been assumed to utilize to artwork , too : We only “ like ” what we know , meaning that how we “ judge ” artistic creation is more about our subjective belief than objective facts . Seems sensible , right ? A ten - yr - oldCornell subject , for model , prove it by exposing art bookman to obscure works by famous artist . At the beginning , students might have preferred the creative person ’s well - bed chef-d’oeuvre . But over time , as they were display to less critically - acclaimed work by the same artists , they began to choose the more obscure works — seemingly testify that whether they liked a piece reckon on exposure level , not quality .
The problem with that evidence , though , is that it tested works from a critically acclaimed artist . Would people start to like bad graphics if they were exposed to it more often , too ? That was the surmisal nonplus by a work published in theBritish Journal of Aestheticsthis spring . Unlike the 2003 study , though , these researchers exposed one group of scholarly person to one painting from a “ speculative ” creative person , Thomas Kinkade , as well one painting from a “ honest ” creative person , British painter Sir John Everett Millais :
Millais ’ puff , Blow Thou Winter Wind ( 1892 ) .
Thomas Kinkade ’s A Peaceful Retreat ( 2002 ) .
They expected students to like both the Kinkade and Millais house painting once they were repeatedly exposed to each , on par with the 2003 cogitation ’s findings . But it turned out that while student liked Millais more and more , they liked Kinkade less over time . Common sense and immanent opinion tells us why ( there ’s less visual interest in a Kinkade picture ) , but it ’s never been proven scientifically .
Of course , studies like this are handicap . The authors decided what artistic creation to show , which means they made a subjective judgment of “ good ” versus “ spoilt . ” And both artists are very famous , which also skews the information . But at the core , it proves a very specific point about how human being comprehend aesthetic : We do n’t of necessity like what we like because we ’re conversant with it . We like it because of more mysterious , objective qualities . Now , prison term to set about figuring out exactly what those are , so we can make a masterpiece to end all other masterpieces and adjourn to live off our pay . [ British Journal of AestheticsviaThe EconomistandHyperallergic ]
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