Selected Concepts in The Development of Drawing Activity in Children Aged 3 to 12

More than a hundred years of research on the drawing activity of children and young people shows both a change in the way it is perceived and in its importance for healthy development. Numerous monographs, dissertations, research conducted by psychologists, pedagogues, aestheticians, art historians and visual artists has contributed to the popularity of terms such as “children’s art” or “children’s artistic work”. Children’s and young people’s drawings have not only been acknowledged for their artistic and aesthetic value, but also for their projective and psychometric qualities. Research on children’s drawing shows that the depiction is a result of knowledge and perception, which depends on personality and intelligence, as well as on emotions, persistent views and attitudes. Furthermore, the content, as well as the formal qualities of a drawing are subject to the constant influence of changing aesthetic conventions and cultural processes. This article deals with selected classic concepts of artistic development in children aged 3 to 12 defined by researchers such as Stefan Szuman, Georges Henri Luquet, Viktor Lowenfeld and Lambert Brittain, Rudolf Arnheim, Ernst H. Gombrich and Władysław Strzemiński. The crucial aspect of this disquisition was to emphasize the value of spontaneous children’s drawings and of the role of spontaneous drawing in their appropriate development. It was equally important to highlight the need for the students to do their own creative work with a teacher assisting them only as a guide, a discrete observer and potential advisor. This is why I pondered upon the following key notions in characterizing the drawing activity of children aged 3 to 12: the period of scheme in drawing development (ideoplastic art, S.Szuman), spontaneous drawing and drawing scheme.