This thesis investigates human product interaction with a focus on the physical experience provided by products. The differences of users&#039 / perceptions are discussed according to the differences of bodily experiences served by products. The interaction with products is taken as a holistic experience phenomenon, and in order to assess users&#039 / understandings and evaluations about the experience with products / perceived pragmatic qualities, perceived hedonic qualities and elicited emotional reactions are analyzed. The research is conducted by means of surveys in order to compare users&#039 / perceptual differences in relation to two different product groups: automobiles and the iPhone, which differ in content of interaction, namely one serves a more physical (bodily) experience while the other a more virtual one. In order to find out the perceptual differences, verbal descriptions of perceived qualities and emotional states are used as measurement tools. A list consisting of bipolar word pairs in relation with pragmatic qualities, hedonic qualities and emotional reactions has been composed, and perceptual differences are investigated through the bipolar word pairs&#039 / relevancy levels according to the product. In addition, in order to show that meaning associations related to the same verbal description are context dependent, the meanings that are associated with the same word pairs for both products are investigated. Apparent differences between the relevant word pairs of the two different product groups have been observed, in addition with pragmatic qualities&#039 / higher relevancy scores compared to hedonic qualities and emotional reactions in defining users&#039 / interactions with products.

As the first major study of the portrait artist Bernard Fleetwood-Walker (1893-1965), this thesis locates the artist in his social, political and economic context, arguing that his portraiture can be seen as an exemplar of modernity. The portraits are shown to be responses to modern life, revealed not in formally avant-garde depictions, but in the subject-matter. Industrial growth, the increasing population, expanding suburbs, and a renewed interest in the outdoor life and popular entertainment are reflected in Fleetwood-Walker’s artistic output. The role played by exhibition culture in the creation of the portraits is analysed: developing retail theory affected gallery design and exhibition layout and in turn impacted on the size, subject matter and style of Fleetwood-Walker’s portraits. Emerging, and soon dominant, tabloid newspapers shaped content and language to attract readers, influencing the articulation of the reception of the artist’s work. This thesis also makes a contribution to the regional perspective, demonstrating the temporary co-existence of multiple, heterogeneous, modern art worlds. Throughout the thesis the relevance of economic factors is emphasised, reappraising the Marxist theory of modern art and concluding that a more complex economic description is required to provide a sensitive and insightful analysis of art history.