ABSTRACT
During the summer of 1973 the Minneapolis Institute of Arts mounted an exhibit of several hundred works of art drawn from diverse persons and schools; included were representatives of several aesthetic media, ranging from paintings and drawings to book covers and pottery. The show was billed as an “educational exhibit.” This struck me as a curious designation from one point of view, since a non-educational museum exhibit is difficult to envisage. And yet, as the exhibit lent itself superlatively to pedagogical purposes, perhaps the description is justified. I had the opportunity to attend the exhibit on a number of occasions; it proved a singularly entertaining and edifying aesthetic experience. In these paragraphs I will seek to uncover the reasons for my positive reaction and consider whether some wider principles might be culled from this experience. Using the exhibit as a point of departure, I will examine the technique of the “illuminating comparison” as a means of heightening aesthetic awareness.
