Appreciate

DEFINITION

To perceive the quality, significance, monetary worth, etc. of a person or thing. To be fully aware of or sensitive to. Like appraisal it comes from the Latin verb "appretiare" ? "to set a price on." It belongs to a family of "perception" synonyms: acknowledge, apprehend, detect, discern, discover, identify, know, note, notice, observe, pick out, realize, recognize, and sense.Art appreciation is the introduction of basic principles of visual literacy ? especially the means to analyzing form without reference to subject matter, symbolism or historical context ? to general audiences for the purpose of enhancing their enjoyment of works of art. Most contemporary art critics and art historians shy away from this term, disparaging art appreciation as demanding too little serious thought. Art educators must be forgiven for providing young students an easily digestible introduction to art. Nevertheless, given the poor reputation of art appreciation, any program of sophistication would better introduce students to art production, along with art in context and as inquiry: aesthetics, art criticism, and art history."Appreciable" means capable of being perceived or measured. "Appreciable" applies to what is highly noticeable or definitely measurable. "Perceptible," applies to what can be discerned to a minimal extent. "Sensible" refers to something that is clearly perceived; a sensible difference in someone's expression is easily detected. "Palpable" applies to something that, if it doesn't have actual physical substance, is nevertheless quite noticeable via the senses ("a palpable chill in the air"). "Tangible" is used for something capable of being handled or grasped, either physically and mentally.(pr. ə-PREE-shee-ayt, ə-PREE-shee-AY-shn, ə-PREE-shə-bəl)Quote: "I certainly consider a great appreciation of painting to be the best indication of a most perfect mind." Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472), Italian architect. See mind, painting, and Renaissance. "Good painting is nothing else but a copy of the perfections of God and a reminder of His painting. Finally, good painting is a music and a melody which intellect only can appreciate, and with great difficulty." Michelangelo (1475-1564), Italian artist. See copy, music, perfection, and Renaissance. "Next to excellence is the appreciation of it." William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863), English writer. "Art appreciation, like love, cannot be done by proxy." Robert Henri (1865-1929), American painter. See ashcan and The Eight. "The representative element in a work of art may or may not be harmful, but it is always irrelevant. For to appreciate a work of art, we must bring with us nothing from life, no knowledge of its affairs and ideas, no familiarity with its emotions." Ben Shahn (1898-1969), American painter. See knowledge, New Deal art, nothing, representation, and social realism. "Appreciation of works of art requires organized effort and systematic study. Art appreciation can no more be absorbed by aimless wandering in galleries than can surgery be learned by casual visits to a hospital." Dr. Albert C. Barnes (1872-1951), American collector. See effort, gallery, museum, and patron. A joke [c. 2000?]: An artist asked the gallery owner if there had been any interest in his paintings on display at that time. "I have good news and bad news," the owner replied. "The good news is that a gentleman inquired about your work and wondered if it would appreciate in value after your death. When I told him it would, he bought all 15 of your paintings." "That's wonderful," the artist exclaimed. "What's the bad news?" "The guy was your doctor." Also see art criticism, art history, critique, gestalt, optical, seeing, empiricism, epistemology, iconoduly, ontology, and phenomenology.