The effect of surrogation on viewer response to expressional qualities in works of art

Panofsky's three levels of meaning in art and Walter Benjamin's “aura of the original” form the theoretical bases for an empirical study that examines the human response to works of art presented in different viewing formats—oil on canvas paintings, color slides, digital images, pictures from books and glossy photos. Key contributions of the study are a critical analysis of library and information science contributions to the image studies literature over the past thirty years, the development of a new methodology for the study of image-based materials, and insight into the perceptions and behaviors of non-expert viewers, a group almost entirely excluded from previous studies.; Study results reveal three important ways in which subjects differentiate the experience of viewing original works of art from surrogates—in the intensity of the emotional response evoked, in the superior ability of the oil on canvas format to convey feeling and emotion, and in an overall ranking of the various formats' abilities to convey feeling and emotion. Qualitative comments attest to the pivotal role of the gallery in the way original works of art are received. Even assuming additional enhancements to digital imagery, museum visitors still perceive the richly-hued gallery walls, gilded frames, other visitors, and personal memory as integral parts of the picture-viewing experience.; While considerable effort has been invested in the technology of facilitating access to images online, much less attention has been paid to how such technology may distort our reading of the documentation it purports to reproduce. This study reminds those involved with the digitization of museum collections and picture archives that expression is the primary means artists use to communicate with the outside world. Since the process of reproduction compromises the expressive power inherent in works of fine art, digitization efforts will quickly need to find means to cope with the resulting loss of critical informational content. The answer may lie in using emerging technologies to emulate the gallery experience for online audiences and in using the linking ability of the web to create an informational environment that deepens the gallery experience for on-site visitors.