Henri Matisse

"Art and brain: insights from neuropsychology, biology and evolution" by Dahlia W. Zaidel

Art and brain: insights from neuropsychology, biology and evolution. Dahlia W. Zaidel

Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), California, USA

brilliant article - ‘The brain, biology and evolution in art and its communication’

Art, as language, is grounded in symbolic and abstract cognition which are supported
by the unique neural wiring of the human brain. Such cognition is central to human
communication, whether through the arts, spoken language, body language or facial
expressions, all because of the access to many forms of mentally stored meanings and
knowledge. The more abstract a notion becomes, the more it can incorporate into it
different dimensions of concepts, details and categories (Liberman and Trope, 2008).
Abstract symbols condense levels of meanings and details derived from life’s experiences
into efficient mental conceptual conglomerates. Thus, symbolic thinking is a powerful
source for myriad of interpretations, associations, innovations and creativity and it is one
of the hallmarks of the human mind.

Zaidel, D.W. (2009) ‘The brain, biology and evolution in art and its communication’, Int. J. Arts and
Technology, Vol. 2, Nos. 1/2, pp.152–160

Biographical note: Dahlia W. Zaidel is a neuroscientist and professor in the department of psychology faculty, in the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). She obtained her PhD in 1982 at UCLA. She has been researching and publishing journal articles on memory in the brain, hemispheric specialisation, facial beauty and issues in art and brain. She is a member of the Brain Research Institute at her university, and has authored the book, Neuropsychology of Art: Neurological, Cognitive, and Evolutionary Perspectives (2005).

"Art and the theatre of mind and body" by Karen Ingham

Art and the theatre of mind and body: how contemporary arts practice is re-framing the anatomo-clinical theatre.

Neuroscience is a very attractive subject for artists, and indeed, for philosophers and scientists alike, as it deals with the ‘big questions’ such as: what is the self (and its corollary, what is ‘other’); what is consciousness; how does memory work (or not work).Ingham, K. (2010), Art and the theatre of mind and body: how contemporary arts practice is re-framing the anatomo-clinical theatre. Journal of Anatomy, 216: 251–263. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2009.01166.x

"The evolution of human artistic creativity" by Gillian M. Morriss-Kay Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, Oxford, UK

Very interesting article about creativity and importance of it  "The evolution of human artistic creativity" (follow this link and download PDF - illustrations are much better) by Professor Gillian M. Morriss-Kay Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, Oxford, UK.

"There is good evidence for a neurological relationship between visual creativity and language."
Morriss-Kay, G. M. (2010), The evolution of human artistic creativity. Journal of Anatomy, 216: 158–176. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2009.01160.x

Journal of Anatomy, Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland. The Journal of Anatomy is a major international journal which carries articles contributing to the understanding of development, evolution and function through a broad range of anatomical approaches.

What is modern painting?

Really nice book What is Modern Painting? by Alfred H.Barr, Jr.

"This booklet is written for people who have had little experience in looking at paintings, particularly those modern paintings which are sometimes considered puzzling, difficult, incompetent or crazy."

What is modern painting? Alfred Hamilton Barr, The Museum of Modern Art, 1943

About  Alfred Hamilton Barr  from Dictionary of Art Historians.