The Role of Experiential Knowledge in the Ultimate Design Studio: The Brain

An understanding of how our experiences shape the neural networks in our brains, which condition our subsequent actions and experiences, can be useful in explaining patterns found in art and design. This is the perspective of neuroarthistory, which can be applied at different levels, from the patterns unfolding in the works of a single artist/designer to the much wider epochal patterns discovered through archaeological studies. This article introduces the neuroscientific principles of "neural plasticity" and "neural mirroring," and demonstrates their application to explain the patterns found in prehistoric, medieval, and contemporary art and design expressions

Wilde, Pevsner, Gombrich… : la « Kunstgeschichte » en Grande-Bretagne

C’est aux intellectuels du continent que la Grande-Bretagne doit en grande partie l’autorité qu’elle détient aujourd’hui en matière de tradition d’histoire de l’art, et aussi en partie ses limites. Avant l’arrivée des réfugiés fuyant le nazisme, venus principalement d’Autriche, d’Allemagne et de Hongrie, mais aussi d’autres pays d’Europe centrale, l’histoire de l’art en Grande-Bretagne était une tradition universitaire faiblement représentée, même si elle offrait de larges possibilités. L’écr..

Art, the visual imagination and neuroscience: The Chauvet Cave, Mona Lisa's smile and Michelangelo's terribilitá

This paper considers several types of imagination relevant to art historical enquiry. These are exemplified in artistic expressions ranging from palaeolithic paintings in the Chauvet Cave, to drawings, sculptures and buildings designed by Michelangelo and drawings and paintings by Leonardo, and are related to recent neuroscientific discoveries. From this it emerges that important types of imagination cannot be understood without an appreciation of the neural processes that underlie them and especially without an acknowledgement of the importance of neurochemistry