Chapters four through six of Look! Again by D’Alleva presented theories that were at times perplexing but always thought provoking. Each of the theories questioned either the interplay of works of art with context or the viewer. Psychoanalysis, The Psychology of Art, Reader Response Theory, the Aesthetics of Reception, and Hermeneutics all analyze how a viewer interprets a piece of art, considering the context of the viewing, and pre-understandings of the viewer. Psychoanalysis also attempts to theorize how an artist made a piece of art and makes claims stating that the artist is not in control of the piece but is just releasing unconscious energy through imagery. Hermeneutics argued that the interpretation of art also changes depending on the time and place of interpretation and that the act of interpretation is a circle, where one enters in the middle due to preconceptions.
Reader-response theory was one theory that especially captured my attention because I finally began to understand why my older sister is a comparative literature major. I’ve never been fond of analyzing text, and so I couldn’t appreciate what she was doing as a comparative lit major, nor why it intrigued her. Reader response theory states that a text or work of art does not have pre-given meaning, meaning happens through reading or viewing. By learning about reader-response theory and how it can be applied to artwork, I learned that what I find so interesting in art history is not so different from what she finds appealing in comparative literature. Reader-response theory also made me question if or how often theory is used in her discipline.