A Transformation Theory of Aesthetics

First published in 1990. How we perceive and respond to the visual image has been traditional concern of psychologists, philosophers and art historians. In A Transformational Theory of Aesthetics, Michael Stephan links the findings of a wide range of disciplines, including: semiotics, psychoanalysis, anthropology, neuropsychology, and in general, contemporary critical analysis of the visual arts. Drawing on their common area of knowledge, he has developed a theory of picture perception and aesthetic response, arguing that images can generate in us a complex pattern of mental changes, or transformations.