Jung on Art

The Autonomy of the Creative Drive

Tjeu van den Berk

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780415610285
• eBook ISBN: 9781135727352
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

In this book, Tjeu van den Berk examines C. G. Jung's personal perspective on art and how his work intensely engages with this theme. It analyses Jung's profound reflections on artistic considerations such as how we experience art, the specific qualities in the perception of beauty, the nature of the creative process and the aesthetic attitude.

Jung on Art considers Jung's feelings about art simply being 'art' rather than reducing it to a moral, political, religious or psychological product. It also discusses Jung's notion that the artist is only a breeding ground for a piece of art, and once complete, the piece has an independent existence.

Topics covered include:

• symbolism
• the difference between art and aesthetics
• Jung's ideas about himself as an artist
• the psychology of art
• Jung's perspective on modern art and surrealism.

This book will be of great interest to all Jungian scholars, as well as those interested in the meeting of Jung and art.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of plates
• Preface
• 1 Art originates from ‘hidden memories’
• 2 Art, a product of an ‘autonomous complex’
• 3 Art is rooted in participation mystique
• 4 Art reveals itself in symbols
• 5 Art and aesthetics are not identical
• 6 Jung’s ideas about himself as an artist
• 7 A psychology of art
• 8 Jung’s perspective on “modern art”
• 9 Jung analyses a Surrealist painting
• Epilogue
• References
• Index
• Plates