Content uploaded by Chiaki Ishiguro
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Chiaki Ishiguro on May 10, 2019
Content may be subject to copyright.
How does art appreciation promote artistic inspiration?
Chiaki Ishiguro (ishiguro.chiaki@lab.tamagawa.ac.jp)
Brain Science Institute, Tamagawa University
Tokyo, JAPAN
Takeshi Okada (okadatak@p.u-tokyo.ac.jp)
Graduate School of Education, University of Tokyo
Tokyo, JAPAN
Abstract
Through art appreciation, viewers are sometimes inspired to
express or implement creative ideas. Such an experience is
thought to be important for art learning. In this study, we
conduct a questionnaire to examine how art appreciation
promotes creative inspiration in non-experts. We hypothesize
that: (a) individual experience of art-related activities and
self-evaluation of artistic expression affect creative
inspiration, mediated by the method of appreciation of
artworks; and (b) the type of artworks affects creative
inspiration, mediated by the method of appreciation of
artworks. The participants were 373 adults, who were not art
professionals (179 women, age: M = 45.02, SD = 13.45,
range: 20-69 years). The data are analyzed using structured
equation modeling for the two hypotheses. The two
hypotheses are mostly supported, suggesting that self-
evaluation of artistic expression and the type of artworks
(especially classic works of art) influence creative inspiration,
mediated by the method of appreciation of artworks. However,
experience of art-related activities has no significant direct
effect on inspiration for artistic creation.
Keywords: inspiration, fine arts, art appreciation, art-making
Introduction
Art appreciation has been studied as a psychological process
of aesthetic experience or understanding of artworks (Bullot
& Reber, 2013; Leder, Belke, Oeberst, & Augustin, 2004).
A recent study suggested the possibility that art appreciation
has a more longitudinal effect on viewers’ minds and future
activities (Pelowski, Markey, Lauring, & Leder, 2016). For
instance, art appreciation sometimes promotes viewers’ own
art-making. Some artists claim that they gain inspiration
when they appreciate others’ artworks. This inspirational
type of art appreciation can be expected to contribute to
creativity. However, psychologists have not yet examined
how we can experience inspiration through art appreciation.
Recent psychological research has tried to define
inspiration. Thrash & Elliot (2003, 2004) examined
psychological components of inspiration through
questionnaire surveys. Their results suggested three
components: evocation, transcendence and motivation. They
also proposed two processes of inspiration. “Inspired by” is
a process to interpret the perceived value of stimulation, the
concluding feeling of transcendence, and evocation. In
contrast, “inspired to” is a motivational process to realize
and extend the value to a new idea, action and product.
Following this definition, Okada (2016) proposed
inspiration for creative activities as a phenomenon that a
person who takes part in creative activities to a greater or
lesser extent, feels highly motivated and moved to generate
new ideas and products. The engagement in creative
activities is an important factor in experiencing inspiration
more frequently and intensively. Previous studies have
shown that there is a difference in the experience of
inspiration of experts and non-professional people in
creative activities (Thrash & Elliot, 2003; Ishiguro & Okada,
2017ab). Non-professional people do not experience
inspiration as often or intensely as experts. However, this
does not mean that they are not inspired. Rather, inspiration
is an important experience for novices’ art learning (e.g.,
Chemi, Jensen, & Hersted, 2015; Tyler & Likova, 2012).
Psychological studies on inspiration have just started, and
they have not yet examined how non-professional people
can experience inspiration to create through art appreciation.
Therefore, the current study aims to identify what promotes
inspiration for their creation when appreciating paintings.
This will contribute to studies on art learning and the
development of art education methods.
What factors are important for non-art professional
people to be inspired through art appreciation? Art
appreciation has been thought of as a process by which to
evaluate and understand artworks by others (e.g., Bullot &
Reber, 2013; Leder et al., 2004). However, researchers
should pay attention to viewers’ own creative activities
when considering the various effects of art appreciation.
Ishiguro & Okada (2018) assumed that the process of being
inspired to make art through art appreciation related to both
an evaluation of others’ artworks and the viewers’ own art-
making. They divided the process into four phases: initial
state, the first, second, and third phases (Figure 1). The
initial state shows the viewers’ motivation to appreciate or
create artworks. The first phase is the process of evaluating
others’ artworks. The second phase includes the evaluation
process and the process of comparing the artworks with the
viewers’ own art-making. The third phase is the inspired
state. Ishiguro & Okada (2018) emphasized the second
phase, because the process allows viewers to focus on both
others and themselves. Through the process, they can
imagine and explore their new art-making according to the
ideas and methods illustrated in others’ artworks. As a result,
they can reach the third phase.
In addition to the art appreciation process, viewer’ traits
also influence the inspiration to create. As mentioned above,
Subject of
processing
Type of
processing
Phases of appreciation for inspiration
Initial state
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Artworks by
others
Cognitive
Motivational
state for art
appreciation
Evaluation of
artworks by
others
Evaluation of
artworks by
others
Emotional
Viewer’s own
art-making
Cognitive
Motivational
state for art-
making
Reflection on
viewer’s own
art-making
Inspiration
for viewer’s
own art-making
Emotional
Figure1. Outline of the process model of inspiration to make artworks through art appreciation (ITA) (Ishiguro & Okada,
2018)
Figure 2. Hypothesis model
art experience can promote inspiration even in non-art
professionals (Ishiguro & Okada, 2017b). When focusing on
the art appreciation process, art experience promotes
viewers’ interpretation of artworks. Besides art experience,
self-evaluation of art-making is also important. When
viewers find a new technique or method, they cannot be
motivated without sufficient self-evaluation of art-making.
Thrash & Elliot (2003) reported that self-efficiency was
positively correlated to frequency and intensity of
inspiration. Additionally, Ishiguro & Okada (2017b) showed
that self-evaluation of art-making was positively correlated
with external inspiration both in students who were art
majors and in non-art majors. Therefore, it can be said that
art experience and self-evaluation of art-making are
important traits for inspiration through art appreciation.
Based on the discussions mentioned above, this study
examines how viewers’ traits and the art appreciation
process affect inspiration to create by focusing on trait
factors (art experience and self-evaluation of art-making)
and the art appreciation process (in evaluating the creative
process and comparing others’ artworks with the viewers’
own art-making). The hypotheses for this study can be
summarized as the follows. Traits such as art experience and
self-evaluation of art-making and the art appreciation
process, such as evaluating the creative process and
comparing others’ artworks and the viewers’ own art-
making, promote inspiration to create. The trait factors also
affect the inspiration, mediated by the art appreciation
process. Additionally, art experience promotes self-
evaluation of art-making (Hypothesis 1; Figure 2).
Moreover, there is an important factor in inspiration
through art appreciation other than traits and the art
appreciation process: the style of artworks. Previous studies
have shown that styles of artworks, such as classic, abstract
and modern, differentiate the art appreciation process (Leder,
Gerger, Dressler, & Schabmann, 2012). The style factor also
influences creative activities inspired by others’ works.
Research on product design or drawing shows that the type
of exemplars affects the creativity of design or drawing (e.g.,
Chan & Schunn, 2015; Okada & Ishibashi, 2017). Okada &
Ishibashi (2017) indicated that copying unfamiliar artworks,
such as abstract paintings, and spending a long time
appreciating them (about 20 minutes) promote the creativity
of drawings by non-art majors. According to these findings,
it can be assumed that the style of artworks affects the
intensity of inspiration to create. Therefore, the current
study takes style of artworks, such as classic or abstract
paintings, into consideration: the style of artworks indirectly
influences inspiration to create through art appreciation
(Hypothesis 2).
In this study, we conduct a survey for non-art
professionals to examine these two hypotheses. We ask
them to appreciate several paintings for at least one minute
and answer questions to reveal their art appreciation process
and art experience and self-evaluation of art-making. Then,
the results are analyzed by applying a covariance structure
model. A survey with psychological scales has been applied
to several research studies on art appreciation and
inspiration (Leder et al., 2012; Thrash, Maruskin, Cassidy,
Fryer, & Ryan, 2010) because it can examine complicated
psychological process, including multiple factors. Therefore,
we adopted this approach in this study.
Although a museum visitor is said to spend only tens of
seconds on an artwork (e.g., Smith & Smith, 2001), the
current study sets a relatively long viewing time in the
survey. This is because it can be assumed that viewers have
to spend more time to evaluate the creative process and
compare others’ artworks with their own than the tens of
seconds required for perceptual analysis and recognition of
the style and contents of artworks (Augustin, Leder, Hutzler,
& Carbon, 2008). Of course, researchers may consider that
viewers should spend more than one minute, however, we
set one minute as the minimum time, considering the burden
on the participants.
Method
The current study asked a private company to conduct an
online survey, which was completely anonymous. No
personal data were collected except age, gender and
residential area. Four hundred participants were randomly
selected so that the ratios of male and female and age were
equal. This study was approved by the ethics committee of
University of Tokyo and all the participants provided
informed consent according to the guidelines.
Participants We applied further analysis to 373 participants
(male = 194, age: M = 45.02, SD = 13.45), because we
excluded participants who had experienced professional
education in art.
Procedure First, participants viewed four paintings and
answered questions about their art viewing. Each painting
was presented with the instruction, “Appreciate this artwork
for at least 60 seconds, then proceed to the subsequent
questions when you have appreciated it for long enough”.
After 60 seconds, participants could answer the subsequent
questions if they answered “yes” to the question, “Have you
appreciated this artwork for long enough?” Second, the
participants were asked to answer questions about how they
felt and what they were thinking during their art viewing.
The questions were presented on an 18-item questionnaire
to evaluate the art appreciation process on a 5-point Likert
scale (1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree), and a 5-
item questionnaire to evaluate the intensity of external
inspiration on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree
and 7 = strongly agree) (Ishiguro & Okada, 2015). The final
part of the survey included two measures of individual
differences in art experience and self-evaluation of art-
making. Art experience was assessed via adjusted questions
in an Art Experience Questionnaire (Chatterjee, Widick,
Sternschein, Smith, & Bromberger, 2010). Self-evaluation
of art-making was through a 6-item questionnaire with a 5-
point Likert scale (Ishiguro & Okada, 2017ab).
We selected two classic and two abstract paintings (in
total four paintings) in accordance with the previous study
(Leder et al., 2012). The classic paintings were
“Fronleichnamsprozession in Hofgastein” by Adolph von
Menzel and “Poplars on the Bank of the Epte River,Seen
from the Marsh” by Claude Monet. The abstract paintings
were “Untitled (one on Brown)” by Fiona Rae and “Abstract
Painting 858-4” by Gerhard Richter. These paintings were
randomly presented to each participant.
Results
Reliability scores for each variable were calculated
according to the revised version of factor composition of
scales for Art Appreciation Process, Self-Evaluation of Art-
Making and Inspiration from the Outside (Ishiguro & Okada,
2017b). Each
α
score was more than .80.
Tables 1 and 2 show descriptive statistics and factor
correlations of each variable, respectively. Table 2 shows
that inspiration to create demonstrates a significantly
positive correlation with the other variables, except for style
of artwork (ps <.05). We assigned dummy variables to the
style of artwork: 0 to classic paintings and 1 to abstract. It
can be said that these results show a correlation pattern
which is not contradictory to our hypothesis.
We applied the lavaan package (Rossel, 2012) to the
subsequent covariance structure analysis with the use of the
open source software R 3.1.0. In verification of our
hypothesis, each latent variable was estimated by inputting
all the observational variables. All the paths included in the
hypothesis and error correlations between the art
appreciation process were included in the model.
The results show a sufficient model fitness (GFI = .99,
AGFI = .98, CFI = .97, RMSEA = .049 [90%CI = .047 -
.052]). Additionally, the coefficients of determination of
the objective variable, inspiration to create, were quite high
(R2 = .69), which suggests that 69% of the objective
variables can be explained by the model. Therefore, we
adopted the model in Figure 4 to illustrate how art
appreciation promotes inspiration to create.
Moreover, further analysis was conducted to examine
how art experience and self-evaluation of art-making
influence inspiration to create, mediated by the art
appreciation process. The multiple mediation effects were
analyzed by applying the Sobel test (Hayes, Preacher, &
Myers, 2011; Preacher & Hayes, 2008) and the bootstrap
method (sample size = 1000).
Table 3 shows that art experience does not directly affect
inspiration to create (b* = -.01), however it does with other
mediating variables. Finally, the total effect of art
experience on inspiration to create is significant (b* = .28, p
< .001). Thus it can be assumed that art experience
influences inspiration to create when mediated by self-
evaluation of art-making and the art appreciation process,
rather than directly influencing the inspiration. However,
the results suggest a direct effect of self-evaluation of art-
Table 1 Correlation scores of each variable
1
2
3
4
5
6
1
Traits
Art experience
.52
**
-
.31
**
.31
**
.32
**
2
Self-evaluation of art-making
-
.39
**
.44
**
.48
**
3
Style of artworks
-.09
*
-.11
**
-.09
*
4
Art
appreciation
process
To evaluate the creative process
.85
**
.75
**
5
To compare others’ and the viewer’s own art-
making
.81
**
6
Inspiration to create (intensity)
Note: * p < .05, ** p < .01.
Table 2 Direct and indirect effects of art experience and self-evaluation of art-making on inspiration to create
95% CI
Estimate
SE
Z
Lower
Upper
Std.all
Art experience
Direct
-0.011
0.056
-0.199
-0.120
0.102
-0.005
Indirect 1
0.047
0.023
2.033
0.011
0.101
0.022
Indirect 2
0.103
0.049
2.086
0.012
0.211
0.048
Indirect 3
0.073
0.021
3.568
0.040
0.120
0.034
Indirect 4
0.239
0.053
4.507
0.159
0.361
0.111
Indirect 5
0.155
0.038
4.056
0.091
0.248
0.072
Total
0.605
0.103
5.861
0.431
0.824
0.282
Self-evaluation of art-making
Direct
0.265
0.053
5.010
0.164
0.367
0.149
Indirect 1
0.125
0.030
4.163
0.068
0.185
0.071
Indirect 2
0.408
0.062
6.634
0.289
0.533
0.230
Total
0.799
0.064
12.553
0.675
0.923
0.451
Note: Indirect 1 means the indirect effect mediated by the art appreciation process to evaluate creative process; indirect 2 means the
indirect effect mediated by the art appreciation process of comparing others’ and the viewer’s own art-making; indirect 3 means the indirect
effect mediated by self-evaluation of art-making and art appreciation process of evaluating the creative process; indirect 4 means the indirect
effect mediated by self-evaluation of art-making and art appreciation process of comparing others’ and the viewer’s own art-making;
indirect 5 means the indirect effect mediated by self-evaluation of art-making
Figure 3. The results of covariance equation model analysis
*p < .05, ***p < .001
making on inspiration to create (b* = .15, p < .001). There
were also indirect effects mediated by the art appreciation
process of evaluating the creative process and comparing
others’ and the viewer’s own art-making (b* = .07, .23, ps
< .001). In other words, the total effect of self-evaluation of
art-making on inspiration to create (.45) can be explained by
the indirect effect mediated by the art appreciation process
(in total .30), rather than the direct effect. These results
support hypothesis 1 and imply that art experience and self-
evaluation of art-making contribute to inspiration to create
when mediated by the art appreciation process, rather than
directly affecting the inspiration.
Regarding hypothesis 2, the results show that the style of
artworks had a significant influence on the art appreciation
processes. In addition, the style of artworks affected the
inspiration to create, mediated by the art appreciation
process, which supports hypothesis 2. Interestingly, because
the path coefficients were negative values, it can be
assumed that viewers appreciating artworks tend to evaluate
the creative process and to compare others’ and their own
art-making more when viewing classic paintings rather than
abstract ones.
These results generally support our hypothesis model.
However, art experience did not significantly affect
inspiration to create, which was an unexpected result.
Discussion
The present study has examined how art experience, self-
evaluation of art-making and the art appreciation process
affect inspiration to create by conducting a survey of non-
professional viewers regarding the appreciation of classic
and abstract paintings. The first hypothesis was that art
experience and self-evaluation of art-making have a direct
influence on inspiration to create, and an indirect influence
when mediated by the art appreciation process. The second
hypothesis assumed that the style of artworks affects the art
appreciation process. These hypotheses were verified by
covariance structure analysis following the approaches
applied in previous studies on art appreciation and
inspiration.
The results generally support the two hypotheses.
Although art experience has no direct effect on inspiration
to create, it promotes inspiration when mediated by self-
evaluation of art-making and the art appreciation processes.
The size of effect of art experience on the inspiration is not
as great as that of self-evaluation of art-making, yet the total
effect cannot be dismissed (b* = .28). In contrast, self-
evaluation of art-making has a direct effect on inspiration to
create. In other words, people who have high self-evaluation
of art-making experience inspiration to create more
intensively when they appreciate paintings. It is also
suggested that such an experience can be heightened by the
art appreciation process when evaluating the creative
process and comparing others’ and the viewer’s own art-
making. Especially, the art appreciation process of
comparing others’ and the viewer’s own art-making has a
marked effect on inspiration to create.
Psychological process of inspiration through art
appreciation The current study reveals how trait factors
such as art experience and self-evaluation of art-making and
process factors of art appreciation influence the inspiration
to create, by focusing on an inspiration experience evoked
by art appreciation. Although previous studies indicated that
creative experience and achievements promote the
frequency and intensity of inspiration (Thrash & Elliot,
2003, 2004), this study illustrates a more complex
relationship between traits and processes.
Contributions and Limitations Inspiration is an important
factor in art learning, and even in education in general. If it
can be discovered how learners experience inspiration to do
something, this may contribute to the development of
educational methods. In regard to art learning, the current
findings point out important factors in promoting inspiration
through art appreciation. Such factors may be important in
developing educational methods to unite art appreciation
and art making.
However, this study has several limitations. First, the
participants may have appreciated paintings in different
environments (e.g., monitor size, lighting) because they
took part in an online survey. Such differences should be
controlled for in future study. Second, this study might not
have assessed the participants’ art experience in a valid way.
The results show very low scores in art experience, which
may have influenced the estimation of the art experience
effect on the inspiration to create. The effect should be
replicated by applying a more sensitive scale of art
experience, which can be used for people not majoring in art.
Third, we have to note that the current findings are limited
to art appreciation of paintings. However, if researchers
were to consider inspiration to create through appreciating
other types of artwork, such as music, drama, and dance,
they would have to modify the factors in the model to
promote the inspiration. Finally, the current study may
contribute to art learning in museums, lifelong learning and
hobbies, because we focus on non-art majoring people over
the age of twenty. Future study might expand the group of
participants, for example by including school children and
students, to examine how differently viewers in each
developmental stage experience inspiration to create
through art appreciation. Such efforts will contribute art
learning in schools.
References
Augustin, M. D., Leder, H., Hutzler, F., & Carbon, C. C.
(2008). Style follows content: On the microgenesis of
art perception. Acta Psychologica, 128, 127-138.
Bullot, N. J., & Reber, R. (2013). The artful mind meets art
history: Toward a psycho-historical framework for the
science of art appreciation. Behavioral and Brain
Sciences, 36, 123-137.
Chan, J., & Schunn, C. D. (2015). The impact of analogies
on creative concept generation: Lessons from an in
vivo study in engineering design. Cognitive Science, 39,
126-155.
Chatterjee, A., Widick, P., Sternschein, R., Smith, W. B., &
Bromberger, B. (2010). The assessment of art attributes.
Empirical Studies of the Arts, 28, 207-222.
Chemi, T., Jensen, J., & Hersted, L. (2015). Behind the
scenes of artistic creativity: Processes of learning,
creating and organising. New York, NY: Peter Lang.
Cupchik, G. C., & Gebotys, R. J. (1988). The search for
meaning in art: Interpretive styles and judgments of
quality. Visual Arts Research, 14, 38-50.
Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison
processes. Human Relations, 7, 117-140.
Hayes, A. F., Preacher, K. J., & Myers, T. A. (2011).
Mediation and the estimation of indirect effects in
political communication research. In E. P. Bucy & R.
Lance Holbert (Eds), Sourcebook for political
communication research: Methods, measures, and
analytical techniques (pp. 434-465). New York:
Routledge.
Ishiguro, C., and Okada, T. (2017a). The effects of art
experience, competence in artistic creation, and
methods of appreciation on artistic inspiration, Poster
presented at the 31st International Congress of
Psychology, Yokohama.
Ishiguro, C., and Okada, T. (2017b). Development of
psychological scales for measuring attitudes for art-
making and appreciation and their effects on artistic
inspiration between art majors and non-art majors,
Poster presented at The International Symposium: Art
learning & creativity, Tokyo.
Ishiguro, C. & Okada, T. (2018) How can inspiration be
encouraged in art learning? In T. Chemi & X. Du (Ed.),
Arts-based methods in education around the world (pp.
205-230). Denmark: River Publishers.
Langer, E., Pirson, M., & Delizonna, L. (2010). The
mindlessness of social comparisons. Psychology of
Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 4, 68-74.
Leder, H., Belke, B., Oeberst, A., & Augustin, D. (2004). A
model of aesthetic appreciation and aesthetic
judgments. British Journal of Psychology, 95, 489-508.
Leder, H., Gerger, G., Dressler, S. G., & Schabmann, A.
(2012). How art is appreciated. Psychology of
Aesthetics, Creativity, And The Arts, 6, 2-10.
Okada, T. (2016). “Shokuhatsu suru communication to
museum (Inspiring communication and the museum),”
in Shokuhatsu Suru Museum: Bunka Teki Koukyou
Kuukan no Aratana Kanousei wo Motomete (Inspiring
the Museum: an Inquiry into New Possibilities of
Cultural Public Space), eds K. Nakakoji, H. Shindo, Y.,
Yamamoto, and T. Okada, Kyoto: Airi Shuppan.
Okada, T., & Ishibashi, K. (2017). Imitation, inspiration,
and creation: Cognitive process of creative drawing by
copying others' artworks. Cognitive Science, 41, 1804-
1837.
Pelowski, M., Markey, P. S., Lauring, J. O., & Leder, H.
(2016). Visualizing the impact of art: An update and
comparison of current psychological models of art
experience. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 10(160).
doi:10.3389/fnhum.2016.00160
Rossel, Y. (2012). lavaan: An R Package for Structural
Equation Modeling. Journal of Statistical Software, 48,
1-36.
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptotic and
resampling strategies for assessing and comparing
indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior
Research Methods, 40, 879-891.
Smith, J. K., & Smith, L. (2001). Spending time on art.
Empirical Studies of the Arts, 19, 229–236.
Thrash, T. M., & Elliot, A. J. (2003). Inspiration as a
psychological construct. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 84, 871-889.
Thrash, T. M., & Elliot, A. J. (2004). Inspiration: core
characteristics, component processes, antecedents, and
function. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
87, 957-973.
Thrash, T. M., Maruskin, L. A., Cassidy, S. E., Fryer, J. W.,
& Ryan, R. M. (2010). Mediating between the muse
and the masses: Inspiration and the actualization of
creative ideas. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 98, 469.
Tyler, C. W., & Likova, L. T. (2012). The role of the
visual arts in enhancing the learning process. Frontiers in
Human Neuroscience, 6(8). doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00008