Visual Thinking [Paperback]

Rudolf Arnheim (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1972 | ISBN-10: 0520018710 | ISBN-13: 978-0520018716

For thirty-five years Visual Thinking has been the gold standard for art educators, psychologists, and general readers alike. In this seminal work, Arnheim, author of The Dynamics of Architectural Form, Film as Art, Toward a Psychology of Art, and Art and Visual Perception, asserts that all thinking (not just thinking related to art) is basically perceptual in nature, and that the ancient dichotomy between seeing and thinking, between perceiving and reasoning, is false and misleading. An indis-pensable tool for students and for those interested in the arts.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"Groundbreaking when first published in 1969, this book is now of even greater relevance to make the reader aware of the need to educate the visual sense, a matter so harmfully neglected in the present system."--Peter Selz, author of Nathan Oliveira

"Freud argued that a cogent thought process, to say nothing of conscious intellectual work, could not exist amidst the unruliness of visual experience. Over the last half century in a sequence of landmark books, Rudolf Arnheim has not only shown us how wrong that is, he has parsed the grammar of form with uncanny acuity and taught us how to read it. Few books continue to speak to the generations after them; Visual Thinking is one of those rare exceptions."--Jonathan Fineberg, author of Art Since 1940

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Back Cover

"Groundbreaking when first published in 1969, this book is now of even greater relevance to make the reader aware of the need to educate the visual sense, a matter so harmfully neglected in the present system."-Peter Selz, author of Nathan Oliveira "Freud argued that a cogent thought process, to say nothing of conscious intellectual work, could not exist amidst the unruliness of visual experience. Over the last half century in a sequence of landmark books, Rudolf Arnheim has not only shown us how wrong that is, he has parsed the grammar of form with uncanny acuity and taught us how to read it. Few books continue to speak to the generations after them; Visual Thinking is one of those rare exceptions."-Jonathan Fineberg, author of Art Since 1940 --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 345 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (September 1, 1972)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520018710
• ISBN-13: 978-0520018716
• Product Dimensions: 0.9 x 6.1 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #917,576 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Book you want to have at home March 18, 2005

By Mariya

Format:Paperback

The above phrase is the conclusion I came to after reading this book at the library. I am not in art education, but there are many things I wanted to underline and think about in application to the theory of creativity, use of technology in education, visual literacy. I think different people would find different things to think about in this book. Arnheim wrote a masterpiece that catalyzed a paradigm shift in his area (just like Freud or Simon & Newell).

The book is written pretty clear, I would not say it is difficult to read (English is my third language).

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Observation on the Psychology of Art & Visual Appreciation January 19, 2010

By Generally Booked

Format:Paperback

Instead of going on & on about the wealth of useful information in this book, I will say this:
There is reason 100 different books cite this book - this book contains art psychology research relavent to a wide variety of fields. More importantly, this information is as relevant to life today as the day it was written. Thought-provoking perspective of creativity.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Educational December 7, 2010

By Kawika Heftel

Format:Paperback

This book gave me great insight on how the brain processes visual cues and what the differences are between different types of thinkers' approaches to problems. It had interesting tidbits on how completely different images can be linked by abstract principles as well. For me, this novel gave me some inspiration as to how to use abstract ideas and abstract forms in my artwork to achieve my purposes. It opened my eyes to just how powerful an image can be as it "operates" on the brain of the viewer. Both the structure of the sentences and the vocabulary used were a little overwhelming for me at times, but overall, it was a very helpful book.