Art Criticism and Perceptual Research Author(s): Cindy Nemser Source: Art Journal, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Spring, 1970), pp. 326-329 Published by: College Art Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/775461 . Accessed: 29/09/2011 09:56

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http://www.jstor.org Art Criticismand Perceptual Research

Cindy Nemser

Rebellion in the ranks of the perceptual lieves that the originality of 's For Robert Morris, gestalt theory has psychologists of the 1950's is finally having veil consists, above all, in the "re- played an essential role in the meaning he its repercussions in the art world. New per- markable rich and varied internal articula- wished his works to convey. In his "Notes on ceptual theories, based on Dewey's Transac- tion of what is experienced as a single com- ," Morris says that constancy of tionalism and the more recent experiments of prehensive configuration."5 He finds the flor- shape is to be obtained by the use of polyhe- Franklin Kilpatrick and F.H. Allport (see als a step backward because the entities of drons with "strong gestalt sensation." The footnotes 10 and 11) have invaded the think- color tend to disintegrate into a profusion of viewer's acceptance that the pattern within ing of artists and critics. discrete shapes.6 one's mind corresponds to the "existential fact Until quite recently, few art critics or theo- Critics have ascribed this involvement with of the object, enables him to become more rists were aware of the new developments in the immediately perceived pattern or single intensely aware of other phenomena such as perceptual research. The older gestalt ap- image to scores of contemporary artists. light, space, and shape itself.9 proach was (and still is) widely accepted by Rothko, Newman, Still, Reinhardt, and Gott- Today the gestalt approach still dominates many artists and critics as the "correct" way lieb were among the first to be put into this the thinking of many art critics and aestheti- of seeing. According to Douglas N. Morgan, category. The Responsive Eye exhibition at cians. However, there are others who have be- the core idea of gestalt psychology is "the belief the Museum of , in 1965, made come cognizant of the revolution that has that perception (and perhaps other psycho- the public more aware of the influence that taken place among the perceptual theorists. logical phenomena as well) can be explained gestalt psychology had had on the arts. In his They have discovered that "configurationism in terms of neutral factors tending to pro- catalogue, William Seitz wrote that "stripped had achieved its success at the cost of practi- duce organized, though dynamically changing of conceptual association, habits, and refer- cally ignoring the motor side of the patterns or segregated groups of units, or ence to previous experience, perceptual re- organism."'? 'wholes.' "1 sponses would appear to follow innate laws. According to Franklin Kilpatrick, the ge- Building on this basic gestalt approach, . . " In order to demonstrate these inherent stalt approach appeared perfectly credible as Rudolf Arnheim asserted that in "perception laws, Seitz selected works that used rectangles, long as psychologists examined perception there is a tendency to the best possible equi- squares, and circles by themselves as an en- from object to subject. Using that method, librium," and that "well organized visual tire image, or in concentric or radial arrange- the same object would always produce the form produces in the visual projection areas ments or all-over patterns of dots, stripes, or same stimulus pattern on the retina. How- of the brain correspondingly balanced, orga- lines. Though his exhibition presented paint- ever, when the operation was reversed, the ex- nization." Thus he supplied a physiological ings and reliefs of artists as diverse as Brach, perimenters discovered that "any given visual explanation for his aesthetic claim that well Cunningham, Le Pare. Vasarely, and Noland, stimulus pattern can be produced by an in- ordered form gives pleasure.2 they all could be viewed as practitioners of a finity of different external conditions.'l It This correlation of aesthetic pleasure with gestalt oriented art. was also observed, that though there were what appeared to be scientific fact, made ge- Among the "minimal" artists, Donald Judd many configurations for the same objects, stalt thinking an important part of many crit- and Robert Morris, in 1966, expressed their only one was chosen by the receiving orga- ical theories of art. It was only natural that immediate concern with gestalt imagery as nism. This implied that some form of pre- the art of the last twenty years was viewed both artists and art theorists. In speaking of conceived selection was taking place, and that through eyes seeking the essential "whole" his sculpture in an interview with Bruce the method of choosing was the key problem image. , in his "American Glaser; Judd stated, "I just want it to exist as in perceptual science. Type ," attributes Pollock's strength a whole thing. And that's not especially un- Going back to Dewey's transactionalism and and originality to his "power to assert a usual. Painting's been going towards that for Whitehead's occasionalism, Kilpatrick and paint-strewn or paint-laden surface as a single a long time."8 Allport construed new theories for dealing synoptic image."3 Barbara Rose, in interpret- ing Pollock's works also speaks of the "total unity and indissolubility" of the paintings."4 In almost any Pollock criticism of the last two decades, one finds a critical awareness of the artist's all-over pictorial image. Using these interpretations of Pollock's paintings as a point of departure, many crit- ics and historians have concerned themselves with finding similar gestalt patterns in the works of other painters and sculptors. The success or failure of "" paintings is often measured by the artist's ability to pro- duce configurations that project the most eas- ily read "universal" patterns on the receiving mechanisms of the viewer. Michael Fried be-

This is MRS. NEMSER'Ssecond article to ap- Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm, 1950, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Estate of Jackson Pollock, George A. pear in ART JOURNAL. See A.J. Fall '69. * Hearn Fund, 1957.

326 Adolph Gottlieb, The Crest, 1959, Whitney Museum of American Art, Gift of the Chase Manhattan Bank. Photo: Geoffrey Clements. , Number 6, 1945-46, Whitney Museum of American Art, Promised aift of B. F. Friedman. Photo: Geoffrey Clements.

with perception. Though Kilpatrick conceded nature of their production is bound to be ig- teristic of a gestalt is that once it is estab- that some stimulus is necessary to produce a nored. "It is true that the optical nature of lished, all the information about it, qua ges- configuration, the form in which it is pro- the work holds up at a distance," says Muss- talt, is exhausted."'' On the contrary, his new jected is a result of a "dynamic fusion involv- man, "but, close to, the issue of opticality works indicate a realization that the act of ing cues from the environment, assumptions, vanishes, and one is absorbed with how the perceiving, even the simplest of forms, is an and actions."'2 The concept of perception pools of paint have formed and how one on-going, dynamic process which provides must include past experience as well as color may have become mixed with each viewer with different choices and infor- immediate mental and motor responses. To another."'4 Max Kozloff, , and mation. Indeed, in the April, 1968 issue of those accepting this line of reasoning, it is Robert Rosenblum have all remarked on a the Artforuim, Morris writes that the positive obvious that no person ever receives precisely similar phenomenon in the works of Morris characteristic of his new work is a "disengage- the same message from the same environ- Louis. In a critical analysis that could be ment with preconceived enduring forms and ment. Each individual develops his own way cited as a superb example of the new percep- orders for things."17 of reading each new situation. Perception is tual approach advocated by Kilpatrick and His recent arrangements can be seen as the now viewed as an aggregate of behaviour. It Allport, Rosenblum responds to Louis's perfect vehicles with which to demonstrate can not be seen as separate from learning. paintings on many different levels. He under- this conception and the new perceptual theor- These new perception theories have stands that their formal construction is a ies to which it is related. On viewing the larg- brought about a crisis in the field of behav- combination of all-over design and natural est work at the Castelli warehouse, one is en- ioral psychology and in other academic areas configurations of accident. He also sees them veloped in a sea of objects, and perception as well. Aestheticians, however, have not made as "images of the intangible core of nature's changes drastically with even the slightest use of these recent findings. Only through energies-a vital, chromatic substance that movement. Solid metal forms are juxtaposed the writings of Gombrich, has some of this may alternately dissolve into thin air or crys- with soft, undulating bands of rubber and fascinating new material seeped into art tallize into a geological stratum.""5 felt. On entering this complex arena, which theory and criticism. In the past two years, The perceptual discoveries of the experien- resembles a child's construction set many however, criticism and writers on aesthetics tial psychologists have also had effects on the times magnified, one has the sensation of have demonstrated their awareness of the new latest work of Morris, Judd, and many youn- being stranded in the midst of a rapidly developments in perceptual psychology." ger artists as well. Morris is now involved with rushing rivulet. However, instead of step- Works of art that have previously been inter- amorphous materials such as felt, rubber, ping onto solid substances in order to ma- preted from a gestalt viewpoint are now being mud, cotton threading, spattered paint, etc. neuver about successfully, one must avoid all examined in terms of these newer, more in- Judging by the productions of his recent ex- the concrete objects scrupulously. In the act clusive theories. Toby Mussman has pointed hibitions, this writer would guess that Morris of navigating through this maze, one realizes out that if Pollock's paintings are only inter- would be the first to attack his own premise that perception depends on past experience preted by the optical field theory, then the of 1966 which states so positively that charac- and immediate kinetic and tactile responses

327 , Four Darks in , 1958, Whitney Museum of American Art, Gift of the Friends of the Whitney M. of A. A. and Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Schwartz and Mrs. Samuel A. Seaver, Photo: Geoffrey Clements.

Kenneth Noland, Teton Noir, 1961. Collection of Carter Burden, New York.

as well as visually patterned data. Even from substances and techniques are Claus Olden- a vantage point outside the debris-strewn burg, , , David Paul, area, one must mentally practice the same Keith Sonnier, and Stephen Kaltenbach. kind of all-encompassing activity in order to Some artists reflect the new, more compre- make any sense out of the objects on view. hensive perceptual theories by using different To a lesser degree, all of Morris's construc- means. In a recent exhibition, Donald Judd, tions, be they of mud, cotton or felt demand with the aid of mirrors, constructed a box the same kind of participation. He external- which unites the object, subject, and environ- izes the dynamic quality of perception by ment into an indissoluble, but open struc- using soft materials or flexible formations ture. His earlier discretely whole images have that are subject to reformation at any given melted into ever-changing reflections of envi- moment. Other artists, employing similar ronmental activity. The end product is an in-

Larry Bell, , 1966, chrome plated metal and plated glass, Pace Gallery, New York. Photo: Ferdinand Boesch.

Morris Louis, Mem, 1957-60, Andr6 Emmerich Gallery. Photo: Geoffrey Clements.

328 1 termingling of internal and external forms in Douglas N. Morgan, "Psychology and Art," The which illusion can not be disentangled from Journal of Aesthetics and , vol. 9, no. 2, Dec., 1950, 85. reality. This work is for p. perfect metaphor 2Rudolf Arnheim, Toward a of Art, directive state Psychology Allport's theory of perception, Berkely, 1966, p. 45. 3 which the psychologist describes as presenting Clement Greenberg, Art and Culture, Boston, the 1961, p. 217. 4Barbara Rose, American Art Since 1900, New very picture of a self delimited and self York, 1967, p. 176. 5 Michael contained structuring of ongoings and Fried, Morris Louis, Boston, 1967, p. 19. 6 Ibid. events. . . It appears as a structure that is 7 William C. Seitz, The Responsive Eye, New York, closely knit, yet not isolated from sur- 1965, p. 7. rounding that is built up of 8 Bruce Glaser, "Questions to Stella and Judd," Minimal edited the events of ongoing and interacting ele- Art, by Gregory Battcock, New ments... .1 York, 1968, p. 154. 9Robert Morris, "Notes on Sculpture," Ibid., pp. 226-7. Larry Bell, Charles Ross, and Michael 10F. H. Allport, Theories of and the are those who use Perception Kirby among transparent Concept of Structure, New York, 1955, pp. 438-39. reflective surfaces to fuse environment, ob- 1 Franklin P. Kilpatrick, Exploration in Trans- ject, and subject into a total unit of actional Psychology, New York, 1961, pp. 2-5. percep- 12 Ibid. tion. Other artists work with chemical proper- 13Morse Peckham discusses these theories exten- ties that dissolve and change structure in the sively, as they are fundamental to his own ideas process of being activated in order to stimu- about the meaning and function of art. See Morse late perceptual awareness. David Medalla and Peckham, Man's Rage for Chaos, New York, 1965, 207-217. Bernard Hoke use foam for this pp. soap pur- 14 Toby Mussman, "Literalness and the Zorio uses acid on Infinite," pose; copper. Minimal Art, edited by Gregory Battcock, New Even those artists involved with conceptual York, 1968, p. 242. 1 Robert art are reacting to the new perceptual theo- Rosenblum, "Morris Louis at the Gug- Art ries. too have discovered that genheim," International, vol. 7, no. 9, 1963, They percep- p. 24 tion is more than a patterned message flashed 16 Robert Morris, op. cit., p. 228. from a carefully organized visible object. 17Robert Morris, "Anti Form," Artforum, vol. 6, Therefore, believe that a minimum no. 8, Apr., 1968, p. 35. they only s number of visual clues are Allport, op. cit., pp. 612-13. (if any) necessary 19Lucy Lippard and John Chandler, "The De- to elicit As perceptual experience. Lucy Lip- materialization of Art," Art International, vol. 14, pard and John Chandler so aptly put it, "vi- no. 2, 1968, p. 34. sual art is still visual art even when it is in- Robert Morris, Untitled, 1967-68, grey felt, Gallery. visible or visionary.''9 Since the concept of perception has been expanded to include past experience and en- vironmental influences, figuration, illustra- tion, and allusion are again becoming accept- able to critics and art theorists. If it is per- missible to view Olitski's color fields as sun- sets and Louis's configurations as organic im- ages, it is also possible to admit the validity of literal figurative paintings by such artists as Philip Pearlstein, Paul Georges, and Sid- ney Tillim. With the realization that perception is a complex process combining sensual response with past experience, the unchallenged au- thority of the older formalist art doctrines is beginning to crumble. Perception is now being conceived of as a highly personal ex- perience influenced by a variety of factors. Artists are enthusiastically exploring the newly opened field of perceptual theory; crit- ics and aestheticians are beginning to con- cede that contemporary art can be perceived from more than one point of view. Today new theories and interpretations are su- perceding one another with breakneck speed. Confusion seems to reign. Yet out of all this seeming chaos, there may emerge a new, more inclusive order. In any case, this recent prob- Donald Judd, Untitled, 1965, painted steel, Leo Castelli Gallery. Photo: ing into the many aspects of perception has Rudolph Burckhardt. injected a vitality and energy into an art scene that, only a few years ago, was in dan- ger of becoming rigid and sterile.

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