Children's and Adolescent's conceptions in Describing, Preferring, and Judging a Work of Art

Author: Jo Chiung-Hua Chen (Fine Arts Department, National Taiwan Normal University)

Vol.&No.：Vol. 43, No. 2
Date：October 1998
Pages：1-19
DOI：10.6210/JNTNULL.1998.43(2).01

Abstract：

The objective of this paper is to explore how children and adolescents of different grade levels: 1) describe a work of art, 2) the manners in which they state their preferences, 3) what kind of criteria they use for judging a work of art, 4.) the differences between the preferences and judgments they made in responding to a work of art. Twenty-four subjects were randomly selected from third, fifth, and seventh grade students who attend an art school program at the University of Illinois, and college-level students of art and design at the University of Illinois. Half of the students in each group are girls, and half are boys. The data was collected in February, 1996. Each subject was requested to respond to a one of Chagall's paintings, the "Portrait of Vava" by answering three structured interview questions. The findings indicate that the aesthetic reasoning range from simply describing the components of a visual aesthetic object to discerning the relations among components, and further to interpreting the characters of overall quality. Students of each grade level present different aesthetic skills and concepts in describing, interpreting, and evaluating a work of art. Both third and fifth graders tend to identify subject matters when describing a work of art. This trend shifted at seventh grade level. The description of formal property and expressiveness of a picture increase along with grade levels. When students state their preferences about a work of art, third graders focus on the color and subject matter, fifth graders put emphasis on the color, and seventh graders demand the expression of a picture. As to the college students, they depend on the expression and design. For judging a work of art, third graders count on subject matter, and fifth graders rely on color. The expression and technique are equally important at both seventh graders and college students. Except reasoning, there were some disparities of children's voting between preference and judgment. Even children in the third grade can differentiate the reasons for their personal preferences and evaluating a work of art. Questions used to solicit the responses influenced the types of comments the subject made. The specific changes of responding to the work of art may emerge when questions are posed differently.

Keywords：Art Education, Aesthetic Education, Aesthetic reasoning, Aesthetic skill, Aesthetic concept

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