Since art is all about the visual, I would definitely prefer 'perceptual' over 'cognitive' but you may be able to distinguish exactly which is needed from your wider context.

The materials of the artist – the pigments, tones, timbre, marble, etc. – are part of the artist’s tools, and usually involved with the artist’s intent. The proper resolution in the differences in these materials (as red vs. blue in painting, or as faster vs. slower in music) is critical to understanding a work of art. In painting, pigments have different hues and values of intensity that must be brought together to create an aesthetic experience. In music, tones contrast in pitch, timbre, and volume and they must find an aesthetic connection. In sculpture, marble has its contrarieties in grain, color, texture, and sheen, etc. In creating a work of art these contrasting qualities must join aesthetically.


Gotshalk moves to make a connection between the materials and other categories such as its form and expression. He gives many illustrations that we will bypass, but the aesthetic use of the “tools” is of course not enough. We need criteria on the aesthetics of the form to take the next step in judgement.

The form of the art faces the problem of tension and its resolution. Space and time, causality and teleology, are universal forms, he argues like Plato, which are “the structure of human existence.” Art enhances these forms. These universal (“cosmic”) forms are the basis for creating the specific artistic form, which is a “purification and vivification on a small scale of them.” The task of art is to give the forms some “intrinsic perceptual value” and to generate the aesthetic experience. Then, what are the principles that express these “forms?”

Gotshalk says that the form of every work expresses a combination of principles. The principles include harmony, balance, centrality, and development. A work of art – a poem, a play, a painting, and a sculpture -- exhibits some unity based on these principles, which are universal to art. Gotshalk illustrates in detail how such principles operate, and I summarize only a few of these points to offer the flavor of his argument.
http://www2.bc.edu/~bruyn/Critique.html

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Note added at 56 mins (2009-01-20 10:36:24 GMT)
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http://books.google.com/books?id=cPX9T2wUcZgC&pg=PA44&lpg=PA...

http://books.google.com/books?id=m1RW5-tErdYC&pg=PA12&lpg=PA...



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Note added at 1 hr (2009-01-20 10:43:20 GMT)
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Hi, dwilliams - I don't think that would change things. Anything visual has a perceptual value.

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Note added at 1 hr (2009-01-20 10:45:34 GMT)
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Maps & Histories. Greek topographies in the Renaissance and the Enlightenment
The new book by George Tolias (May 2008) is a collection of papers on the spatial perception of Greece in European cartography.
It is the second book in the series "Trips with maps in places and utopiae"; Ziti Publications (www.ziti.gr).
In Greek, 256 pages, 14.5X20.5 cm, ISBN 978-960-456-101-8
Order: [email protected]
Cartografia morale.
A book by Giorgio Mangani on the geography, persuasion and identity of old cartography.
A fascinating reading on the moral, intellectuall, ideological, religious and perceptual value of maps.
2006, Franco Cosimo Panini, Modena, ISBN 88-8290-818-6, pages 255,
http://maputopia.blogspot.com/2006/12/peter-barbers-map-book...

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Note added at 1 hr (2009-01-20 10:52:53 GMT)
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This I think is about the benefits these elements of the book bring to it in visual terms. An example from a different field but it explains what is meant:

http://books.google.com/books?id=16huj4AZNrMC&pg=PA175&lpg=P...

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Note added at 1 day5 hrs (2009-01-21 15:03:32 GMT) Post-grading
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Thanks for the points, David - I have entered it into the glossary alongside 'cognitive value' - it gives anyone following us the chance to view this discussion and make up their own mind.