Art, Perception, and Reality

The approach of the book is very original because it presents itself as the interdisiplinary convergance of three adopted points of view, respectively, the history of art, the psychology, and the philosophy.

Bringing together essays by an art historian, a psychologist, and a philosopher, is an important event, for it marks a growing interest in the suggestive but very problematic relation between our experience of art and our perception of the visual world.

Power to provoke thought.

Stimulating and erudite. It considers the problem of likeness between a portrait and the sitter, and the role of empathy, a much neglected aspect in the nature of creating art.

This useful book contains three significant essays on the subject by an art historian, a psychologist, and a philosopher. Hochberg's theoretical demolition of the theory of empathy in relation to viewing art objects is of exceptional value.

The great achievement of this book is that it broadens the reader's perspective on the problems of representation, whatever disipline the reader considers his own. From that broadened perspective is likely to come more fruitful consideration of this set of problems.

Three informed opinions on the classical question of representation... Provocative.