Stages of Artistic Development by Viktor Lowenfeld

 

STAGES OF ARTISTI STAGES ARTISTIC C DEVELOP DEVELOPMENT MENT BY VIKTOR LOWENFELD

 

Developmental Stages: •

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The Scribbling Stage The Pre-schematic Stage The Schematic Stage The Dawning Realism Stage The Pseudo-Naturalistic Stage The Decision Stage

 

WHY STUDY ABOUT THESE STAGES? •

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Understanding the stages of artistic development can help you become better at creating art. It can also help you become a more effective art teacher. We develop d evelop artistica artistically lly.. Just like we develop other skills like talking and walking in stages, we develop artistic skills in the same way.

 

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In 1947, Dr. Viktor Lowenfeld published “Creative and Mental which quickly became THE textbook forGrowth”, art educators.

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Lowenfeld argu Lowenfeld argues es that that are are six clear clearly ly defined stages of artistic development and that these stages can be witnessed in the artworks of children.

 

Stage 1 – Scribble Stage (1 – 3 years old) •

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Children at this age are engaged in the physical activity of drawing. There is no connection made between the marks and representation during most of the scribble stage. However, towards the end of this stage children may begin to give marks names. This stage is mostly about the enjoyment of purely making marks.

 

The Scribble stage is made up of four substages. •

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 Disordered  - uncontrolled markings that could be bold or light depending upon the personality of the child. At this age the child has little or no control over motor activity. controlled lled repetitions repetitions of motions. motions. Demonstrates Demonstrates visually visually an   Longitudinal - contro awareness and enjoyment of kinesthetic movements. exploring of controlled motions demonstrating the ability to do - further   more Circular  complex forms. tells stories stories about the scribble. scribble. There is a change from from a   Naming - the child tells kinesthetic thinking in terms of motion to imaginative thinking in terms of pictures. This of is the one ability of the great occasions in the life of a human. It is the development to visualize in pictures.

 

Stage 2 – Pres resche chemat matic ic Sta Stage ge (3 (3 – 4 years old) •

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Children at this stage of artistic development are beginning to see connections between the shapes that they draw and the physical world arou ar ound nd th them em.. Circles and lines may be described as people or objects that are physically present in the child’s life.

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It is in this stage that a child first makes the connection to comm co mmun unic icat atin ing g th thro roug ugh h th thei eirr dr draw awin ings gs..

 

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The preschematic preschematic stage is announced by the appearance of circular images with lines which seem to suggest a human or animal figure.

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During this stage the schema (the visual idea) is developed.

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The drawings show what the child perceives as most important

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about the subject. There is little understanding understanding of space - objects are placed placed in a haphazard way throughout the picture.

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The use of color is more emotional than logical.

 

Stage 3 – The Schematic Stage (5 – 6 years old) •

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Children at this stage have clearly assigned shapes to objects that they are attempting to communicate. They often have developed a schema for creating drawings. There is a defined order in the development of the drawing. Drawings at this stage have a clear separation between the sky and the ground. Often the sky is a strip of blue at the top of the paper, while the ground is a strip of green at the bottom. Objects are often placed on the ground instead of floating in space. Objects of lesser importance are often drawn larger than objects of importance.

 

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This stage is easily recognized by the demonstrated awareness of the concept of space. Objects in the drawing have a relationship to what is up and what is down. A definite base and sky line is apparent. Items in the drawing are all spatially related. Colors are reflected as they appear in nature. Shapes and objects are easily definable. Exaggeration between figures (humans taller than a house, flowers bigger than humans, family members large and small) is often used to express strong feelings fee lings about a subject. Another technique sometimes used is called "folding over" this is demonstrated when objects are drawn perpendicular to the base line. Sometimes the objects appear to be drawn upside down. Another Phenomenon Phenomenon is called "X-ray". In an x-ray picture the is depicted as being seen form the inside as wellsubject as the outside.

 

Stage 4 – The Dawning Realism (7 – 9 years old) •

At this stage in artistic development, children are beginning to become more critical of their own

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work. It has become evident that a structured order to drawing objects is no longer sufficient.

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While a schema is still used to create drawings, it is more complex than the schema used in earlier stages.

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Overlapping can be seen and a sense of spatial relationships is more evident.

 

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Dawining realism is also known known as the gang gang age. Group friendships of the same sex are most common. This is a period of self awareness to the point of being extremely self critical. The attempts at realism need to be looked at from the child's point of view. Realism is not meant to be real in the photographic sense rather than an experience with a particular object. In this regard this stage is the first time that the child becomes aware of a lack of ability to show objects the way they appear in the surrounding environment. The human is shown as girl, boy, woman, man clearly defined with a feeling for details often resulting in a "stiffness" of representation. Perspective Pe rspective is another characteristic of this stage.

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There is an awareness of the space between the base line and sky line. Overlapping of objects, types of point perspective and use of small to large objects are evident in this stage. Objects no longer stand on a base line. Three dimensional effects are achieved along with shading and use of

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subtle color combination combinations. s. Because of an awareness of lack of ability drawings often appear less

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spontaneouss than in previous stages. spontaneou  

Stage 5 – The Pseudo-Naturalistic Stage (10 – 13 years old) •

The use of value and light is now apparent in

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drawings. Children at this stage of artistic development are very critical of their own success.

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Success is determined by the level of realism

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achieved in the drawing. Frustration is a common occurrence.

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It is exceptionally important to encourage students at this stage.

 

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In the previous stages the process in making the visual art was of great importance. In this stage the product becomes most important to the child.

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This stage marked by two psychological differences. In the first,iscalled Visual, the individual's art work has the appearance of looking at a stage presentation. The work is inspired by visual stimuli. The second is based on subjective experiences. This type of Nonvisual individual's art work is based on interpretations interpreta tions emphasizing emotional relationships to subjective the external world as it relates to them. Visual types feel as spectators looking at their work form the outside. Nonvisually minded individuals individuals feel involved in their their work as it relates to them in a personal way. The visually minded child has a visual concept of how color changes under different external conditions. The nonvisually minded child sees sees color as a tool to be used to reflect reflect emotional reaction to the subject at hand.

 

Stage 6 – The Decision Stage (13 – 16 years old) •

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Children at this stage will decide to continue drawing or view it as an activity without merit. Because of the level of self criticism inherent at this stage, many children, (now young adults) view drawing as a skill that do they do not possess. Others, however, however, decide to continue working on their drawing skills and continue to develop. It is important to encourage students to continue drawing despite their level of skill. Any skill level can be attained with practice. This stage of artistic development is perhaps the most critical to the development of an artist.

 

REFERENCES •

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http://www.d.umn.edu/artedu/Lowenf.html http://www .d.umn.edu/artedu/Lowenf.html https://thevirtualinstructor.com/b log/the-stages-of-artisticdevelopment https://thevirtualinstructor.com/stages-of-artistic.com/stages-of-artistichttps://thevirtualinstructor development.html