Children's Artistic Development and the Influence of Visual Culture

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the existing early and contemporary theories of artistic development, compare them, and examine the applicability to current children's drawings. I also investigated subject matter to find out the frequency of visual culture in the drawings. I collected first and fifth grade drawings at a suburban, public elementary school analyzed them by use of two different checklists containing many characteristics described in Viktor Lowenfeld's theory of artistic development. The results indicated that the majority of these characteristics were found in the first and fifth grade drawings. I also discovered that a minority of the students included visual culture subjects in their drawings. When given a choice, more students drew images from everyday life such as playing with friends.