Since Bourdieu, it has been argued that art appreciation requires
“knowledge”. The focus of this qualitative study was to examine art appreciation
as a learned competence by exploring two different groups
of museum visitors: art specialists and art non-specialists. The research
was conducted at Moderna galerija in Ljubljana. Twenty-three adults
were recruited and accompanied during their visit to the museum. Participants
were requested to “think out loud”, which meant to talk about
what they saw, thought, and felt about the artworks. There was a short
interview conducted with each participant before entering the museum
to gain insight into their art-related and museum-visiting experience.
The analysis of the data revealed that some processes of art appreciation
were similar within the two groups. Both art specialists and art nonspecialists
interact with museum objects physically and intellectually;
they see contents and formal qualities as a whole; they respond emotionally
to artworks; appreciation includes their personal experience;
they search museum interpretation/information for their understanding.
Some noticeable differences were found. Art specialists respond to
artworks with more understanding and are willing to put more effort
into art appreciation, whereas art non-specialists respond with less understanding
and put less effort into art appreciation. This paper focuses
on the differences between the two groups; reflective and spontaneous
appreciation of art, objective and subjective appreciation of art and the
effort put into art appreciation. The paper ends with a discussion of the
implications of the study for the teaching of art and museum education.
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