Visual Thinking

Visual1hinking RUDOLF ARNHEIM University of California Press Berkeley, Los Angeles, London Univen;ity of California Prcss Berkelcy and Los Angeles. California Univcn;¡ly of California Press. Lid. London. England Copyrighl 1969. by TIle Regen ts of Ihe Universily of Californ ia ISBN: 0-520-01871-0 (alk. paper) Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 71-76335 e Primed in the United St'itn of Ameriea IIlustration by Paul Klte . "Thc: Human Hean :' used with permission uf ¡he Paul Klee -Stiftung. Kun § lmu~um . Bem. and S"ADE ~ . The fi~1 f~('Ud seven lines of " On lhe: Mamase uf a Virgin" from Th~ Col· Porms of Dylan Thomas. copyright 1943 by New Direc¡ions Publishin¡ Corporation. are reprinted by permission of New Dirc:ctions Publlshin¡ Corporation. The pa~,a¡e (pp. 248-49. below] from Alben Camus's "The Adulterous Woman:' in Exi/~ o1ld th .. Ki1lkdum , copyright 19S8 by Alrrc:d A. Knopf. Inc .. is repnnled by pc:rmlssion of the publis her. Figures 10 and 11. below. are used by pc:rmission of Prof. Marvin L Minsky of MIT. The illu51ral ions [Figures 16. 17. 4S. beJow] fro m Sisn. fmagt' Symbd publis hed by George BrazlJler. Ine., New York. are reproduced by perm;..sion of Ihe pubJisher. The 1I1uMr.!.IIons ( Flgure ~ 63. 64, 68. belowJ from Edu('a(ion u/Vi.fIIm. published by George Brazil1er. Jnc .. New York, are reprodueed by permisslon of ¡he publlsher. The illumalion (Figure 79. below] from Jean Piaget's Lonliuugt' (Jod Thflughl u/ (ht' Child is reproduced by permisston of Humanihes Press, Inc .. U.S.A.; and Roulledge and Kegan Paul. Ud .. England. 14 15 16 17 18 19 , The paper used in th is publication meets the minimum req uirements of American National Standard ror Informalion Sciences-Permanence of Paper ror Prinled Library Malerials, ANS I Z39.48- 1984. p.,. Preface This book is an altempt to proceed from earlier studies of art lO a broader concern with visual perception as a cognitive activity-a reversal , one might say, of the historical development that led in the philosophy of the eighteenth century from ai.Hhesis to aesthetics, from se nsory experience in general to the arts in particular. My earlier work had taught me tliat artistic activity is a form of reasoning, in which perceiving and thinking are indivisibly intertwined. A person who paints, wriles, composes, dances. I feh compelled to say. thinks with his sen ses. This unjon of perception and thought turned OUI to be nOl merely a specialty oflhe arts. A review of what is known about perception, and especially about sight, made me realize that the remarkable mechanisms by which the senses understand the environment are all bul identical with the operations described by the psychology ofthinking. Inversely, there was much evidence that truly productive thinking in whatever area of cognition takes place in Ihe realm of imagery. This similarity of what the mind does in the arts and what it does elsewhere suggested taking a new look at the long-standing complaint aboul Ihe ¡solalion and neglect of Ihe arts in sociely and education. Perhaps the real problem was more fundamental: a s plit between sense and thought, which caused various deficiency diseases in modem mano There was no way of approaching so vast a problem without gelting ¡n volved uncautiously in numerous branches of psychology and philosophy , the arts and the sciences. An overview was needed , a tentative confrontation, requiring ideally a professional competence in al1 these fields of knowledge. But to wait for the ideal meant to leave the urgent task un done. To undertake it meant to do it ¡ncompletely. I could not hope to survey all the pertinent material nor even be sure that I would discover the most telling evidence in any one v area. Fortunately. since the problem had att