The Intelligent Eye ; Learning to Think by Looking at Art

110 Pages·1994·2.52 MB·English

by  David Perkins

The
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intelligent
toT hink
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The Getty Center for Education in the Arts
Occasional Paper Series
The Bole of Imagery. in Learning
Ilarry S. Broudy
Thoughts on Art Education
Rudolf' Arnheiiii
.-1rt Education and Human Development
Howard Gardner
The Intelligent Eye: Learning to Think by Looking at .-111
David N. Perkins
The
Learning
Intelligent
to Think
by Looking
Ey
at Art
DAVID N. PERKINS
Harvard Project Zero
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Occasional Paper 4
The Getty Center
for Education in the Arts
Zl
© 1994. The J. Paul Getty Trust. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
The Getty Center far Education in the Arts
Santa Monica. California
I.ihrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pet ktns. Da id N.
The intelligent eye : learning to think by looking at art / David
N. Perkins.
(Occasional papers : 4)
cm.
p.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0- 89256 274 -\
3. Critical thinking.
2. Art appreciation.
t. Visual perception.
II. Series: Occasional paper (Getty Center for Education
I. Title.
in the Arts) :4.
N7450.5-1'52
199-4
701'.1dc2o
94-30
CIP
Excerpt on p. 30 from -The ilolloN% Alen." in Co/ice/co' Poems 1909-1962 by T. S.
Eliot, copyright 1936 by Ilarcourt Brace & Company, copyright © 1964, 1963 by
T. S. Eliot. reprinted by permission of the publisher.
"Musi,e des Beaux \ rts." p. i9. from Collected Poems by W. II. laden. Copyright
© 1940 and renewed 1968 by NN .Ii. kuden. Reprinted by permission of Random
Iloose. Inc.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
vi
Foreword by Mary Ann Stankiewicz
ix
Acknowledgments
xiv
Art and the Art of Intelligence
2 The Intelligent Eye
7
3 The Challenge of the Invisible
17
4 Knowledge Gaps and Intelligence Traps
25
Giving Looking Time
5
36
Making Looking Broad and Adventurous
6
47
Making Looking Clear and Deep
7
59
Making Looking Organized
70
8
Building the Mind through Art
82
9
References
Biography
95
List of Illustrations
Note: All works chosen are monochrome in the original and usually black and white to ensure that
the black and white photographs used here represent them well.
Prow board of a Tanimbarese sailing boat, date unknown. Carved wood, 5 1/2 ft. high.
1.
The Barbier-Mueller Mi 'sewn, Geneva, Switzerland. Photograph: P. A. Ferrazzini
2
(Girl Beneath the Sun), 1929. Pen and ink, 12 x 6 in.
Paul Rleelliidchen
unter der Sonne
2.
0 1993 ARS, New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
(Round Flowers), date unknown. Paper cut, 9 in. diameter. Shaanxi Province,
Tuan-hua
3.
China. From the collection of Nancy Z. Berliner
12
1974. Cor-ten and stainless steel, 45 ft. x 6 ft. 4 in. x 4 rt.
Claes Oldenburg,
Clothespin,
4.
Centre Square, Philadelphia. Courtesy of the Pace Gallery
18
Bathe ROIINNI1Z, Die Frei/Ca/ie.:en (The Volunteers), 1922-23. Woodcut, 14 1/2 x 15 1/2 in.
5
Courtesy of the Fogg Art NIuseum, I 'iward University Art Museums, Gray Collection
20
of Engravings Fund
ink on paper, I 4 'A X 22 X in. 0 1964, 1992,
Saul Steinberg,
Giuseppe I erdi, 1964.
6.
27
The New Yorker Magazine, Inc.
x 24 'A in. (destroyed).
1889. Pen and ink,
Vincent van Gogh,
The Starry Night,
7.
Photograph: Netherlands Institute for Art History, The I lague
38
Etching with drypoint,
the Cross by Torchlight, 1654.
Rembrandt van Rijn, Descent,from
8.
8 X x 6 1/2 in. \retie'. NI. Huntington Art Gallery, The hive, sity of Texas at Austin, 1. niversity
Purchase. 1961. Photograph: George Ilohnes
vi
Jack Manning, Car Dtying, ca. 1953. Black-and-white photograph, 14 x 18 in.
9.
Courtesy ()Hack Manning
50
10. John Muafangejo, Battle of Rorke's Drift about 1879 between Zulus and British, 1981. Linocut,
18 x 20 in. ©John Muafangejo Trust, 1993
55
II. Jose BuscagliaNapalm, 1985. Bronze, 62 x 45 in. Courtesy ofJose Buscaglia.
Photograph: Michael Marsland
61
1 tokusai, Fuji at Sea (#4o from "One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji"), 1835. Woodblock
I 2.
print, black with gray tone, 12
9 in. including margins. Reprinted by permission of
X
George Braziller, Inc
66
13. Peter Keetman, Oil Drops, 1956. Black-and-white photograph, 1
2 X
9 1/2 in.
Courtesy of Peter Keetman
71
14. Barbara Kruger, l'utitled (Your Gaze flits the Side of My Face), 1981. Black-and-white
photograph, 55 x 41 in. Courtesy Mary Boone Gallery, New York
76
15. Henri Matisse, L.D., 1937. Pen and India ink, 14 Y, x
I in. © 1993. Succession
I
11. Matisse /ARS, New York
84
Vil
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Foreword
spend time with art for the intrinsic pleasure of
Te message of The Intelligent Eye: Learning
coming to know specific works of art as good
to Think by Looking at Art is twofold. First, David
friends. Such works have typically focused on
Perkins explains why looking at art requires
helping readers understand why learning about
thinking. Works of art do not reveal all their
the aesthetic dimensions of works of art is
secrets at first glance, as he demonstrates through
important to a well-rounded education.
"seeings," records of his perceptions of some of
While David Perkins cultivates deep friend-
the works reproduced here. Second, he presents
ships with works of art, he comes to the enter-
an argument for the value of looking at art as a
prise of arts education from a different starting
means to cultivate thinking dispositions. Draw-
point. His focus is in large part on the extrinsic
ing on recent research in cognition, he explains
benefits of learning to look at art. For many
why art is uniquely qualified to support commit-
years, arguments about intrinsic and extrinsic
ments to habits of thinking that are not hasty,
benefits of arts education have been perceived in
narrow, fuzzy, and sprawling.
oppositioneither art was to be taught for its
Thoughtful, reflective looking at works of art
own sake or as a means to ends outside itself.
counters these negative dispositions because art
The best thinkers in the art education field, Elliot
offers a sensory anchor for our thinking against
Eisner and I larry Broudy, for example, have long
which ideas can instantly be checked. Works of
recognized that the benefits of art education are
art call forth our persona] involvement. They
not either/or. A multifaceted, comprehensive,
invite us back with their affective impact. Look-
sequential art education he;:is students both to
ing at art requires us to draw on various types
understand the aesthetic dimensions of works of
of cognition and encourages us to make con-
art and to develop their minds.
nections with many other domains of human
Central to this volume is the explanation
experience.
offered for the value of art education in cultivating
The Intelligent Eye is a unique contribution
thinking dispositions. David Perkins explains that
to the literature of arts education. Grounded in
thinking dispositions are more than skills or
the disciplined inquiry of artists, art critics, art
strategies. As he notes in the first chapter, "a dis-
historians, and aestheticians, most books on
is a
felt tendency, commitment, and
looking at art assume that readers will choose to
positio .1
ix
10
Some viewers dismiss certain works of art as
enthusiasm." Much thinking ti,,ne under the guid-
ance of our experiential intelligence is accom-
having little to look at. Perkins argues that it is
plished quickly, without focus or clarity. Most of
not the work of art but the viewer who is lacking.
the time such unreflective thinking serves us well;
Knowledge of the historical, cultural, and social
we get done what needs to be done, we function
contexts within which works of art have been
easily in daily life. Perkins argues that a different
created will enrich our looking and our abilities
form of intelligence, the reflective intelligence, is
to think about art. Harry Broudy in The Role of
hnagety in Learning argues that the "irnagic
necessary to direct and manage the tremendous
resources of experiential intelligence. Ilow can
store," the images that we have looked at long
we effectively cultivate our disposition to use
and deep, adventurously but with some struc-
reflective intelligence? There are a number of
ture to guide our thought, is a source of knowl-
edge that funds our thinking in other areas.
ways but, as Perkins argues, the characteristics
Perkins argues that the habits of thought culti-
necessary to thoughtful looking at art also charac-
terize reflective thinking.
vated by careful looking at works of art are nec-
Most people spend only seconds with any
essary to balance experiential intelligence with
work of art. The first habit to cultivate is that of
reflective intelligence.
taking time to look, pausing for a moment and
But how do we get from looking and think-
engaging the work of art, just as one should
ing about art to thinking in general? In the late
pause and take time to consider any intellectual
nineteenth century arguments for picture study,
problem. The second habit, making looking and
verbal analysis of black-and-white or sepia repro-
thinking broad and adventurous, counters the
ductions of traditional masterpieces of painting,
tendency of experiential thought to pursue the
included the claim that the personal qualities of
same narrow paths. Fuzzy thinking can be coun-
the cTatest artists would somehow be transmit-
looking and thinking clearly and
tered
ted to students viewing their works. Other picture
l)y
deeply. Sprawling habits of mind are countered
study advocates claimed that writing about the
by the cultivation of organized approaches to
moral messages of masterpieces would inculcate
thinking and looking.
morality into students. Half a century later argu-
As David Perkins explains, works of' art
ments began to surface for teaching art as creativ-
demand various kinds of cognition. Each work
ity. If' children learned to be creative with paste
asks us to encounter it afresh, drawing On past
and paper and crayons in school, their creativity
experiences and many kinds of knowledge.
would transfer to help them become creative as
FOREWORD
X