La psicologia e le arti hanno questo in comune: entrambe coprono l'intero ambito della mente umana (Rudolf Arnheim)
Premise
This site was conceived, created and developed by Alberto Argenton in 2014 and in early 2015, with the aims described below. On 23 May 2015, after a brief but unrelenting illness, Alberto Argenton passed away. While keeping unchanged the site architecture and the current contents, we intend to update it, together with Tamara Prest, adding new information and publications related to the scientific and artistic activity of Alberto Argenton and to his memory.
Laura Messina Argenton
The creation of this site is the result of my intention to make available some of the results of my scientific and ‘artistic’ research. The site was came into being at the time of my leaving the world of work – the University – for reasons of age, and it aims to maintain my presence – in some ways, to extend it – within the scientific community or outside it. At the same time, it is intended to be a point of reference for the circulation of knowledge in the sector in which for many years I cultivated my interests of study, research and teaching: the Psychology of art.
The section is divided into: News and Notes, Psychology of art, Criticism and Gallery.
News and Notes is to inform visitors of events and recent publications, but also to insert annotations on the subject.
Psychology of art presents the English translation of some papers published in Italian and papers published only in English pertaining to the Psychology of art or related to this subject.
Criticism collects a brief curriculum of my graphic-pictorial activity and some critical essays about it.
Gallery contains a repertoire of images reproducing my graphics and paintings.
In questa Galleria sono riportate opere eseguite agli inizi della mia attività pittorica sia in terra friulana, in particolare, a Cividale, dove nella seconda metà degli anni ’50 frequentavo i numerosi pittori che popolavano questa cittadina sia in terra africana, a Mogadiscio (Somalia), dove nella prima metà degli anni ’60 ho trascorso la mia tarda adolescenza.
This gallery includes examples of works belonging to several variously named series but all of which relate to the narrative dimension that characterizes the artistic production in general, whichever language or medium – music,...
Quadro ispirato a un’opera di un grande pittore, Paolo Uccello (1397 ca. – 1475), intitolata La battaglia di San Romano
Below you can find Ian Verstegen’s book review of Arte e espressione. Studi e ricerche di psicologia dell’arte, by Alberto Argenton, in Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 68 (2010): 196-197. Ian Verstegen’s book review
The term ‘elements’ indicates the basic components of the physical world and the principles that oversee the functioning of the cosmos, but also the symbols of orientation in space and time with their related...
Under the collective title The crazy line a considerable number of watercolor and oil works are grouped. I realized them in the 80s and below some specimens are shown. I also gave the same...
It is with great pleasure and pride that I would like to announce a piece of news that concerns me – namely the publication of a book. The book was edited by two colleagues...
Rudolf Arnheim’s book review of Arte e cognizione, by Alberto Argenton (1997), The British Journal of Aesthetics, 37, 1, 87-88
Alberto Argenton (2004), Aesthetic cognition. A tribute to Rudolf Arnheim, Gestalt Theory, 2, 128-133.
Summary
This paper was written with the ideal purpose of carrying on in the tradition of Rudolf ARNHEIM’s seminal research and, more generally, in the tradition of Gestalt theory. It argues that the aesthetic criterion (the bipolar dimension of “beautiful/ugly”), through which we evaluate any object or event in the phenomenal world, is a species-specific criterion, which is based on perceptual functioning and orients, drives, and regulates cognition. The author advances this thesis as a contribution to the theme of the relationship between perception and thought, affirm¬ing how important it is to study the artistic phenomenon if we are ever to grasp the functioning of the human mind in its entirety.
Alberto Argenton and Giuseppe Basile (2003), Restoration and the Psychology of Art: An Occasion to Test out Cesare Brandi’s “theory of Restoration”, in G. Basile (ed.), Restoration of Scrovegni Chapel. Surveys, project, results, Skira,...
