A series of experiments upon aesthetic appreciation in children / by Henry J. Watt.

  • Watt, Henry J. (Henry Jackson), 1879-1925.
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A series of experiments upon aesthetic appreciation in children / by Henry J. Watt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    I Henry J. Watt. 3 lower than the preceding. This form of investigation it is which, in its results, most closely resembles the analytical procedure presupposed by a fully developed standard of art. A relation to popularity can be obtained by finding into how many groups series of values produced by many observers can be divided, so that each group in order shall always contain the same objects in any arrangement. The method of (3) paired comparison is more exhaustive than the preceding, demanding the comparison of every object of a group with every other. At its best, the method is incognitive, concealing the pro- gress and accuracy of his judgments from the observer. Each object must, of course, be placed alternately on the left or right side for comparison as it occurs, so as to prevent any error due to disadvantageous position. Thoroughgoing attention to all the objects placed for preference is secured by this method, although it lias the drawbacks of wearisome length and frequent recurrence of the same object. A plentiful source for that kind of information about the artistic mind that is obtained from volumes of studies and appreciations is found in the so-called (4) method of simple description. The process of cesthetic interpretation may reach its climax or end only after an hour or more, and nothing but a careful record of a running com- mentary on the whole process can be expected to clear up the broader questions concerning the start, course, nature, hindrances, and supports of the process of cesthetic appreciation. A passage towards the pure methods of expression is found in the method (5) of production, which follows the lines of artistic creation, in so far as these can be reduced to a simple form amenable to experimental investigation. In so far as a certain amount of ability to give expression to artistic conception is presupposed, the method is, of course, one which shows clearly the nature and degree of artistic appreciation, at least whenever the cesthetic attitude may be presumed to be present. That is the basis of our appraisal of the artist by his works or of the pupils by the excellence of his attempts. But however much we may feel tempted to extend this method in our desire to follow the presence and growth of appreciation, we cannot expect to be able to apply it to all the arts whose appreciation has to be cultivated. The teacher must therefore turn the pure methods of impression into tests for appreciation if he is sincere in his desire to abandon the irrelevant tests of philological, biographical, analytical, grammatical or other heterogeneous information. The actual work of creation is, of course, a wonderful incentive to effort and to keen cesthetic pleasure, but only in rare cases would it outweigh the loss of time and effort involved. The vast majority of learners, on the