Experiencing Art: In the Brain of the Beholder - Softcover

Shimamura has written the ideal introduction to what science can say about artworks, from prehistoric carvings to the latest video projections. It's readable, smart and informed. Better yet, it's a scientist's take that doesn't neglect the humanities: Shimamura cares about which neurons fire, but also about what Plato thought. (Blake Gopnik, art critic, Newsweek and The Daily Beast)

Shimamura's engaging book Experiencing Art bridges the perceptual gap between aesthetics and neuroscience by illuminating how we actually see and, ultimately, how we come to understand works of art. The book rewards even the most art-savvy reader. (Douglas Dreishpoon, Emeritus Chief Curator, and Leslie Zemsky, Former President of the Board of Directors, Albright-Knox Art Gallery)

How do we appreciate a work of art? Why do we like some artworks but not others? Is there no accounting for taste? Awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to explore connections between art, mind, and brain, Shimamura considers how we experience art. In a thoughtful and entertaining manner, the book explores how the brain interprets art by engaging our sensations, thoughts, and emotions. It describes interesting findings from psychological and brain sciences as a way to understand our aesthetic response to art.

Beauty, disgust, surprise, anger, sadness, horror, and a myriad of other emotions can occur as we experience art. Some artworks may generate such feelings rather quickly, while others depend on thought and knowledge. Our response to art depends largely on what we know―from everyday knowledge about the world, from our cultural backgrounds, and from personal experience. Filled with artworks from many traditions and time points, "Experiencing Art" offers insightful ways of broadening one's approach and appreciation of art.