"If I knew they were the artworks of blind people, I would rate them higher": reception biased toward artists’ disability or the case of the cognitive mastering?

We tested the effect of
the information that the artist is blind had on aesthetic evaluations of
embossed drawings. The research was carried out in a gallery of contemporary
art with non-expert visitors. Recipients who were aware of the artists'
blindness in contrast to unaware viewers declared – both - greater
understanding and higher appreciation of exhibited works. This pattern of
results indicates that the positive influence of information about the
impairment of the artist on the evaluation of his work results rather from
supporting the cognitive mastering process (cf. model of aesthetic evaluation,
see Leder & Nadal, 2014), which is related to Aesthetic Aha, than from the
perception of art through the stereotype of the author's disability.