Does history affect aesthetic preference?
Subtitle
Kandinsky's teaching of colour-form correspondence, empirical aesthetics, and the Bauhaus
Publication date
2007
Document type
Forschungsartikel
Author
Wolsdorff, Christian
Organisational unit
Universität Leipzig, Institut für Allgemeine Psychologie
ISSN
Series or journal
The Design Journal
Periodical volume
10
Periodical issue
3
First page
16
Last page
27
Peer-reviewed
✅
Part of the university bibliography
Nein
Keyword
Bauhaus
Colour-form correspondence
Kandinsky
Empirical aesthetics
Psychology of art
Abstract
Kandinsky postulated a fundamental correspondence between colour and form. Using a slightly altered version of his historical questionnaire, a recent empirical study (Jacobsen, 2002) showed that about half of the non-artist students assigned red to the triangle, blue to the square, and yellow to the circle. Frequently, world knowledge associations were stated by referring to a traffic sign, a warning triangle, and the yellow sun. Kandinsky's assignment, however, was the one least preferred. A new study with experts in the visual arts revealed yet differing assignments. It is argued that colour-form assignments as well as the motivation to produce them depend on a multitude of factors. World knowledge, education, historical change, societal, group-specific and individual leitmotifs constitute important influences. We show how Kandinsky's particular colour-form assignments became a symbol for the Bauhaus in a historical process comprising simplification and the mere setting down of examples as critical stages.
Version
Published version
Access right on openHSU
Metadata only access