Volume 29, Issue 1
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.21
PSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISM OF AESTHETIC PREFERENCE FOR DIFFERENT ARTISTIC FORMS
Abstract
The artistic effect of the same content varies with the artistic form. Targeting the art of painting, this paper attempts to disclose the psychological mechanism of the aesthetic preference for different compositions of painting. Firstly, three theoretical models of aesthetic psychology were briefly introduced. Then, the authors designed a paradigm to adjust the spatial composition of paintings. On this basis, a famous Chinese painting was rotated by different angles and used to study the aesthetic preference of fine art students and other students. The results show that the subjects considered the paintings rotated by 45° and 135° the most beautiful works of art, followed by that rotated by 90°, and found those rotated by 0° and 180° the least beautiful; the fine art students preferred the painting rotated by 45°, while the other students showed no obvious preference for this painting, indicating that the aesthetic preference is greatly affected by the knowledge on painting. The research findings enrich the theories and practices on aesthetic psychology in painting composition.
Keywords
Artistic Expression, Spatial Composition, Aesthetic Preference, Aesthetic Psychology, Psychological Mechanism.