Creativity & Art

Neuroscientific and Psychoanalytic Perspectives

Andreas Steck, Barbara Steck

• Publisher: EPFL PRESS
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9782889147885
• Topic: Psychologie
• Subtopic: Kognitive Neurowissenschaften & Neuropsychologie

The authors discuss in an interdisciplinary approach creative processes in art from a neuroscientific and psychoanalytic perspective. By referring to the current knowledge of brain sciences, the understanding of the neural bases innate to the creation of artworks is explored. Historical aspects of aesthetic experience and creation in ancient and modern times are addressed. Numerous artists of various fields are presented with emphasis on how their subjective lived experiences of critical life events are expressed and reflected in their artwork. Building blocks of creativity in early childhood development are described and psychoanalytic understanding of human aesthetic experience and creativity is discussed. The book is aimed at a large audience.

Table of contents

• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• 1 THE BEGINNINGS
• 2 BRAIN, MIND, BODY
• 3 HIERARCHIES OF CONSCIOUSNESS
• 4 THE VISUAL BRAIN
• 5 THE DYNAMICS OF MEMORY
• 6 AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE AND ARTISTIC CREATION
• 7 CREATIVITY AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
• 8 PSYCHOPATHOLOGICAL ART AND MODERN ART
• 9 MUSIC
• 10 GRIEF
• 11 GRIEVING PROCESSES
• 12 ADVERSITY AND RESILIENCE
• 13 ARTISTS’ EXPRESSIONS AND REPRESENTATIONS OF THEIR CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES
• 14 WRITERS’ TESTIMONIES
• 15 TESTIMONY FROM ARTISTS MISSING THEIR MOTHERS
• 16 TESTIMONY FROM ARTISTS MISSING THEIR FATHERS
• 17 PSYCHOANALYTIC CONCEPTION OF ART, CREATIVITY, AND AESTHETICS
• 18 THE UNCANNY
• 19 AESTHETIC EXPERIENCE AND PSYCHOANALYTIC THERAPY
• EPILOGUE
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• ABOUT THE AUTHORS
• INDEX
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• ILLUSTRATION CREDITS