How We Understand Art: A Cognitive Development Account of Aesthetic Experience

As a university level art educator and artist I have found myself referring to this book over and over. I am aware of no better source of the developmental stages of aesthetic awareness. This book is clear and incisive. Anyone who wants to be an artist, is interested in any kind of art criticism, or wishes to teach art would find the information in this book of great value. Parsons explains quite clearly why different people or the same person at different points in that person's life respond differently to the same work of art. No study of aesthetics is complete without this seminal work which brings Piaget's cognitive development theory to bear on art.