Object Recognition in Picasso’s Abstract Art

The visual arts have for hundreds of years presented viewers with images that have been more or less representational of the external world. In fact, many of these images have been such convincing representations of the world that they can fool the viewer into thinking that the representation is in fact reality or a photograph, and not paint on a canvas. Examples of such trompe I’oeil (fool the eye) paintings are some of the works of Jan Vermeer, or Fra Andrea Pozzo's painting on the ceiling of the Church of Sant' Ignazio in Rome (Rock, 1984). There are certain limitations on being fooled, however. For example, spectators must view the painting from the same angle from which the artist viewed it. Characteristics of paintings that would destroy the illusion, such as brush strokes, must also be concealed (Rock, 1984). It is not just in trompe I'oeil paintings that viewers experience a percep­ tion of what is represented in the picture. In viewing representational art, the spectator perceives both the scene depicted and the markings and brushstrokes that are characteristics of the surface of the painting. The philosopher Michael Polanyi refers to the latter as our "subsidiary awareness" and the former as our "focal awareness." (Rock, 1984) Moreover, objects are recognizably specific objects in many styles of painting. With trompe I'oeil paintings, the same visual processes, including those dealing with object recognition, would seem to operate as with objects in the real world. What about paintings that are not strictly representational? Everyone knows that paintings that are not exceptionally well-painted and are not entirely convincing representa­ tions still convey a sense that certain objects are represented. What about other styles of paintings? If objects are recognizable in paintings that are not exact representations of the world, then objects should also be recognizable (to some degree) in art that is more abstract. How readily an object in a painting is recognized should depend on how closely it resembles the actual object. This pattern should break down at some point, when the object is abstracted beyond recognition. The great twentieth-century artist Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) is still thought of as notorious by many for his very free abstractions and the distortions of objects in his work. Despite this notoriety, most people have little difficulty in recognizing specific objects in many of his paintings, drawings and sculptures. The enormous stylistic variety of Picasso's abstract work can provide an excellent basis for examining exactly how