Art appreciation as a learned competence : a museum-based qualitative study of adult art specialist and art non-specialist visitors / Rajka Bračun Sova

摘要

Since Bourdieu, it has been argued that art appreciation requiresud“knowledge”. The focus of this qualitative study was to examine art appreciationudas a learned competence by exploring two different groupsudof museum visitors: art specialists and art non-specialists. The researchudwas conducted at Moderna galerija in Ljubljana. Twenty-three adultsudwere recruited and accompanied during their visit to the museum. Participantsudwere requested to “think out loud”, which meant to talk aboutudwhat they saw, thought, and felt about the artworks. There was a shortudinterview conducted with each participant before entering the museumudto gain insight into their art-related and museum-visiting experience.udThe analysis of the data revealed that some processes of art appreciationudwere similar within the two groups. Both art specialists and art nonspecialistsudinteract with museum objects physically and intellectually;udthey see contents and formal qualities as a whole; they respond emotionallyudto artworks; appreciation includes their personal experience;udthey search museum interpretation/information for their understanding.udSome noticeable differences were found. Art specialists respond toudartworks with more understanding and are willing to put more effortudinto art appreciation, whereas art non-specialists respond with less understandingudand put less effort into art appreciation. This paper focusesudon the differences between the two groups; reflective and spontaneousudappreciation of art, objective and subjective appreciation of art and theudeffort put into art appreciation. The paper ends with a discussion of theudimplications of the study for the teaching of art and museum education.