Radically revolutionary or pretty flowers? The impact of curatorial narrative of artistic deviance on perceived artist influence.

Author(s)
Eva Specker, Eftychia Stamkou, Matthew Pelowski, Helmut Leder
Abstract

The importance of curatorial narrative—the embedding of artworks or an entire exhibition inside a wider context of meaning and significance—is clear in theory but has not been empirically investigated. We do not actually know if curatorial decisions, even something as simple as changing the order or the types of other artworks with which a painting is exhibited, actually impact how art and artists are perceived. Do viewers respond to temporal or contextual narratives when moving through an exhibition? We address this question by building on a recent lab-based social psychology study that suggested that viewers judged the artist as more influential (in terms of famousness, influence on contemporaries, and contribution to art) when target artworks were presented among others meant to highlight the artists’ “deviance” in terms of style. We adapt this paradigm to a quasi-experimental study conducted in the Albertina Museum in Vienna (N = 216). We used an impressionist artwork of waterlilies by Monet, placed within both a temporary exhibition—meant to highlight his revolutionary anticipation of abstraction—and within a permanent exhibition of other impressionistic pieces not highlighting deviance. Results showed that the artist was indeed considered more influential in the temporary exhibition. These findings provide quantification for how curatorial narratives can change whether and when artists are considered influential, beyond the level of didactic extraexhibit information, and offer guidelines for evidence-based curatorial practice.

Organisation(s)
Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Vienna Cognitive Science Hub
External organisation(s)
Unknown External Organisation Unbekannt/undefiniert
Journal
Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts
Volume
16
Pages
332-342
No. of pages
11
ISSN
1931-3896
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000320
Publication date
2020
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
501030 Cognitive science, 501001 General psychology, 604019 Art history
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Developmental and Educational Psychology, Visual Arts and Performing Arts, Applied Psychology
Portal url
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/radically-revolutionary-or-pretty-flowers-the-impact-of-curatorial-narrative-of-artistic-deviance-on-perceived-artist-influence(2e11cd3d-de9b-4fe9-8a9d-bd643110bcf1).html