The Study of Education and Art

First published in 1973, The Study of Education and Art looks at the study of education and art from cultural, philosophical, and psychological points of view. The book includes seven chapters, an introduction, and a symposium, and implicit throughout is the assumption that the essence of the study of education and art rests in the experience of art. The chapters range widely over the field, and without being prescriptive, cover questions of value and of practical concern. They include arguments in support of the arts as essential in the education of the person, and apparently in contrast, doubts as to whether institutionalized education and the creative principle can—even should—coexist. There is exposition of aesthetics as a philosophical study, complemented by the proposition that spontaneous intuitive response to art is the basis of all aesthetic discriminations. The question of art as symbol—as man’s defence against isolation from his fellow men—is discussed from a psycho-cultural standpoint, and the implications of this discussion for art making and response in the multi-cultural community are examined.