Viktor Lowenfeld
Creative and
Mental Growth
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Scribbling
stage
First disordered scribbles are
simply records of enjoyable kinesthetic activity, not attempts at portraying
the visual world. After six months of scribbling, marks are more orderly as
children become more engrossed. Soon they begin to name scribbles, an
important milestone in development.
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The
preschematic stage
First conscious creation of form
occurs around age three and provides a tangible record of the child's
thinking process. The first representational attempt is a person, usually
with circle for head and two vertical lines for legs. Later other forms
develop, clearly recognizable and often quite complex. Children continually
search for new concepts so symbols constantly change.
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The
schematic stage
The child arrives at a
"schema," a definite way of portraying an object, although it will
be modified when he needs to portray something important. The schema
represents the child's active knowledge of the subject. At this stage, there
is definite order in space relationships: everything sits on the base line.
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The
gang stage: The dawning realism
The child finds that schematic
generalization no longer suffices to express reality. This dawning of how
things really look is usually expressed with more detail for individual
parts, but is far from naturalism in drawing. Space is discovered and
depicted with overlapping objects in drawings and a horizon line rather than
a base line. Children begin to compare their work and become more critical of
it. While they are more independent of adults, they are more anxious to
conform to their peers.
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The
pseudo- naturalistic stage
This stage marks the end of art as
spontaneous activity as children are increasingly critical of their drawings.
The focus is now on the end product as they strive to create
"adult-like" naturalistic drawings. Light and shadow, folds, and
motion are observed with mixed success, translated to paper. Space is depicted
as three-dimensional by diminishing the size of objects that are further
away.
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The
period of decision
Art at this stage of life is
something to be done or left alone. Natural development will cease unless a
conscious decision is made to improve drawing skills. Students are critically
aware of the immaturity of their drawing and are easily discouraged.
Lowenfeld's solution is to enlarge their concept of adult art to include
non-representational art and art occupations besides painting (architecture, interior
design, handcrafts, etc.)
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Betty Edwards
Creative and
Mental Growth
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The
scribbling stage
Random scribbles begin at age
one-and-a-half, but quite quickly take on definite shapes. Circular movement
is first because it is most natural anatomically.
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The
stage of symbols
After weeks of scribbling, children
make the discovery of art: a drawn symbol can stand for a real thing in the
environment. Circular form becomes a universal symbol for almost anything.
Later symbols become more complex, reflecting child's observations on the
world around him.
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Pictures
that tell stories
At four or five, the child begins to
tell stories or work out problems with her drawings, changing basic forms as
needed to express meaning. Often once the problem is expressed, the child
feels better able to cope with it.
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The
Landscape
By five or six, children develop a
set of symbols to create a landscape that eventually becomes a single
variation repeated endlessly. A blue line and sun at the top of the page and
a green line at the bottom become symbolic representations of the sky and
ground. Landscapes are compose carefully, giving the impression that removing
any single form would throw off the balance of the whole picture.
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The
stage of complexity
At nine or ten years, children try
for more detail, hoping to achieve greater realism, a prized goal. Concern
for where things are in their drawings is replaced by concern for how things
look-- particularly tanks, dinosaurs, super heroes, etc. for boys; models,
horses, landscapes, etc. for girls.
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The
stage of realism
The passion for realism is in full
bloom. When drawings do not "come out right" (look real) they seek
help to resolve conflict between how the subject looks and previously stored
information that prevents their seeing the object as it really looks.
Struggle with perspective, foreshortening, and similar spatial issues as they
learn how to see.
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The
crisis period
The beginning of adolescence marks
the end of artistic development among most children, due to frustration at
"getting things right." Those who do manage to weather the crisis
and learn the "secret" of drawing will become absorbed in it.
Edwards believes that proper teaching methods will help children learn to see
and draw and prevent this crisis.
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