Summary And Response To The Imagined Spectator By Charles Harrison

Summary and Response to “The Imagined Spectator” In his book An Introduction to Art’s “The Imagined Spectator” section, Charles Harrison discusses about the imagined viewer we usually identify ourselves with when looking at a painting, which is one of the crucial factors to consider if one wants to better understand the painting’s content, purpose, etc. He uses the ‘imagined identity’ or narrator that novelists and writers create in their works as an analogy to explain the imagined spectator in paintings. Professor Harrison claims that by using this imagined identity or spectator, the scope of a painting or a writing remains narrow and stays focused on specific and delimited contents. He says another important thing to keep in mind is

As the author suggests, it is possible for us to infer some cues about their significance, purpose, meaning or historical context, etc. by just pondering over the possible audience or spectator they might have been intended for. However, it is also true that our perception can be subjective because people wouldn’t see things exactly the same way. Even though it is not physically present inside the picture plane, we can tell there is this implied or imagined viewer which we can clearly identify ourselves with. I think it does complement the painting well and there seems to be some sort of causal relationship between the imagined spectator and the painting itself as if their existence is dependent upon each other. Moreover, when we look at any artistically drawn painting, picture and the like, we know it represents a separate realm or context from the one we are living at that moment and makes us feel like we are looking through some magic window or door that lets us travel in time and see what’s on the other side. Similarly, when we read an interesting novel, story, etc. or even watch a really good movie, we just get lost in our thoughts and imaginations that we seem to be temporarily living inside a fictional world of the ‘imagined identity’ or narrator. I also think the eyes and facial expressions of the people in paintings are important to give us a