The Relationship Between Art Appreciation Ability and Grasp of the Format and Content of Expression:

Using Vermeer’s Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window as Thematic Material With Second-Year Junior High School Students

Abstract

This essay employs two practical methodologies with different approaches to the same thematic material, and using these to provide clues, contemplates how we ought to understand and rank the studentsʼ art appreciation ability. When viewing of the work commenced in accordance with Methodology 2, those with a high level of ability detected in the “characteristics of motif and scene” nature properties as aesthetic property attributes of the sort discussed by Gören Hermerén. In the case of Methodology 1, those of high ability sensed aesthetic properties in the design features of the painting. This helped them to progress to identifying two types of theme: that of taste properties, such as “the wonder of the moment,” and behavior properties, such as “the leisurely flow of time.” In contrast, the response of those of mid to low ability was confined to detecting a theme of an emotion property nature.