Is That All There Is to Art?

The reviewer notes that it is rare to find a cognitive textbook (see record 1994-98374-000) that attempts to integrate paintings with perception along empirical lines. In this short book, filled with over a hundred paintings and with nearly 30 percent of the references on art, Solso builds on the bold assertion that we understand the mind through art. Teachers, students, and general readers interested in art will find most of the familiar topics of perception from the standpoint of the "cognitive revolution," presented in a relatively informal style and sprinkled with quotes from Plato to Picasso. There are chapters on the physics and biology of vision, form perception, depth perception, and cognitive theory (a 3-stage, top-down, informational processing view). Atypically, Solso presents a thorough review of eye movements and their relationship to art. Least expected is a history of art, beginning with caveman art, as it relates to perspective. The last of nine chapters contains a considerable amount of neurophysiological speculation that attempts to explain the complexities of cognition and the meaning of art. The reviewer concludes that readers will gain a greater appreciation of the place of the visual arts in scientific psychology. Solso's attempt to integrate diverse disciplines, despite some shortcomings, is unusual, exhilarating, and potentially liberating. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)