ABSTRACT
The level of aesthetic fluency provides the cognitive and knowledge bases for engaging in the public or private discourse that facilitates understanding. Aesthetic fluency appears to accrete gradually and broadly across areas of art and is greatly influenced by frequency of visitation to museums and age, as well as training in art history. “Precisionism” became a term in our art vocabulary, and aesthetic linkages were made among Sheeler, Demuth, Chase, and Duchamp. Aesthetic fluency is the knowledge that a person has about art and aspects of life closely related to art. Importantly, aesthetic fluency is both verbal and visual. It is understanding what chiaroscuro means and being able to spot its use in a painting. The new painting was industrial in nature, but was stronger and somewhat harsher than the first work. Experiencing a work of art is inherently a psychological process, and has been the subject of discussion and theorizing among psychologists over a number of decades.
