412 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



group of Americans who patronize the free public library. I believe 

 I know something about their way of looking at the subject of art; and 

 that I know, consequently, how art is regarded by about 99 per cent, 

 of the fairly well-to-do and moderately rich in this country. My inter- 

 est in the subject, enhanced by the opportunities I have mentioned, 

 has naturally led me to take note of art in the American home, and 

 of the light it throws on the art knowledge and esthetic sensitiveness 

 of the American jjeople. My observations in this direction have con- 

 firmed me in the conclusions, herein noted, to which my work in the 

 library had led me. 



Most discussions of esthetics ignore certain common, every-day 

 feelings which seem to be important factors in the appeal which works 

 of art make on our attention. I have here tried to describe the nature 

 and origin of some of these feelings, and to show that they are among 

 the most universal and the simplest elements of esthetic emotion. I 

 call them extra-artistic elements, because by the professional artist 

 they are not considered to lie within the artistic field. 



The physiological factors in esthetics are, in a certain sense, more 

 fundamental than the familiar feelings I discuss in this essay. They 

 go to the very bottom of the pleasurable sensations which the sight 

 of certain objects gives us. But we do not \'et understand them. A 

 spot of color probably gives pleasure — under proper conditions — even 

 to the most uncultivated observer. Savages and even some of the lower 

 animals have this much of esthetic feeling. Meaningless arrangements 

 of several colors probably give greater pleasure to some, even of the 

 entirely untrained, than does the single spot of one color. Flat design 

 in black and white, quite without suggestion of any kind, arouses 

 agreeable sensations in some, but probably only in a few of those who 

 have never given thought to the subject. That is, pictures, considered 

 simply as fiat, colored designs with no regard whatever to what they 

 portray, may produce an agreeable physiological effect on some of those 

 who see them. This direct physiological effect is, as I have said, little 

 understood. It sometimes, perhaps commonly, forms a part of the 

 group of pleasurable feelings which picture-gazing evokes. It is funda- 

 mental to be sure; but with nearly all observers it is of slight im- 

 portance in comparison with the mass of agreeable sensations whose 

 nature and genesis I have outlined below. 



Most of us first note a picture which we know is popularly ad- 

 mitted to be a work of art with a pleasure which comes of being in 

 the fashion. It is the custom to enjoy it. We like to know and feel 

 that we are following the custom. We find it easy to say, as all others 

 do, iliat it is pretty and aitractive: and so saying we get the pleasure 

 of conformity; of 1)ciiig in the mode. This kind of ]iicture-enjoyment 

 lies upon the surface, is easy to acquire and comes iiatn rally io nil of 



