Page 19 - Studio International - November 1966

both the philosophers and the psycho-analysts and drawing specifically, but her remarks apply equally of the window that is blotted out?
shows that there are various levels of symbolism in well to such symbols. We can say, however, what sort It is this sort of question that can only be answered
any given work of art. For Panofsky, the content of a of symbols occur. Not only is the way the child draws by a greater knowledge of the whole situation. My
painting is a symbol for the whole of life as trans- symbolical but also what the child chooses to draw second daughter Sarah, aged 44-, was making a
mitted by the artist. may also be symbolically important. Witches, demons drawing about her recent holiday at the seaside, first
The question then arises: are all these accounts of and monsters will symbolize terrifying people or there was a big wave which was then converted into
symbols in art really so different? If we consider the objects which though normally part of the child's a house, and finally the house was changed into a hill
drawings of children which, although complex, are imaginative development, can also in stress situations with all the family going for a walk. It seemed that
comparatively simple, I think we find that there is be repeated and will refer to some very real anxiety. there should be some connexion between these
really a great deal of agreement. Similarly, pleasant associations can be symbolized superimposed images. Later my wife told me that
There are clearly recognized stages in the develop- by favourite animals or creatures—such as the mer- Sarah had begun the holiday by going down to the
ment of childrens' drawings, beginning with early maids illustrated here; but what is the significance beach every day and trying to swim but that after a
scribbles and continuing to a conscious choice of few days she would return to the house, without
styles in early adolescence. In younger children from having gone into the water, and play by herself. In
Mermaid's house by Ann Carter (aged 54-)
four to seven years the images are most clearly sym- the afternoon we would all go for a walk. At the time
bolic. At this time there is no attempt to realize an Bottom Sarah would not say why she had stopped going into
object in any reproductive sense. The child makes a Witch by Annette Dix (aged 5) the water, but later told us that a big wave had
series of marks that symbolize his reaction to any In the Sunday Mirror National Exhibition covered her up and the water had gone up her nose
subsequent concept of any person or object in which of Children's Art and she did not like the sea any more.
he is interested. In doing so line, colour and space This form of symbolic expression is clearly uncon-
will all be used. scious. It could also be argued that as water has other
It is with great excitement that the child begins to symbolical associations there is an even deeper
establish a relationship between the drawing and process being worked out. Apart from water there are
what it is meant to represent and that others can also other sexual symbols seen at this age, such as the
appreciate, so that the child is suddenly presented square, the circle and spike forms symbolizing the
with a new channel of communication. The first security of the womb, the pleasure of the breast and
symbols usually represent people and the drawing the phallus respectively. This is the age of sexual
will illustrate the child's concept of the person, gener- identification and competition for affection, and these
ally all head and limbs—especially hands. At this age symbols will occur in the work of normally developing
colour is used in a way that expresses a simple emo- children. Again, aggression will be shown in destruc-
tional response to colours. A favourite colour will be tive fragmented imagery and the drawing may well
used for a favoured object or person regardless of the be destroyed afterwards. From this account it can be
natural colour. The space of the paper is seen in seen that the apparent subject of the drawing can
relationship to what the child thinks important. Often also represent various levels of symbolic meaning.
a thin layer of blue at the top represents the sky and With most children, at feast for short periods, there
objects below will be arranged in size and position is a further stage in which the drawing becomes
around a central point of attention. The symbols that regarded as an object in its own right. The complete
a child uses at any particular time will change during painting is suddenly seen as a magical transformation
this period of years as it is not till later that a stable of its parts, producing something unique. It would
scheme of symbols is developed. The way in which seem that on these occasions the child is already
line, colour and space are used will be individual to realizing the possibility of creating a personal world,
each child and will show a personal developing aware- different in part from both the interior world and the
ness of the external world. This awareness the child external environment. A child will alter a drawing in
will wish to share. a way that does not change the subject matter but
The use of symbols that have so far been mentioned suddenly alters the effect of the drawing as a whole.
is conscious. This is quite different from the uncon- This last stage is the creating of the 'art symbol' or
scious symbolism that is also present and which often 'expressive form' of Susanne Langer or the 'symbolic
provides the true subject matter in a child's drawings. content' of Panofsky with which we began. It is,
The major contributions to our understanding of this perhaps, the most interesting development; creating
unconscious symbolism have been made by educa- a unique personal symbol for something that was
tionalists such as Lowenfeld in Creative and Mental previously unknown, which is precisely the aim of the
Growth and Herbert Read in Education through Art. mature artist. The child has not the experience to
These writers have relied to a great extent on the create images that reflect more than the world of
work of psycho-analysts who have made a special straightforward simple emotions. If we turn from
study of the importance of the dynamic relationship children's drawings to adult paintings, to the work
between the symbols in a child's drawing and the for example of Francis Bacon, we can see in the
development of the child's personality. Melanie Klein ostensible subject matter several layers of symbolism,
and her co-workers have shown that it is at this young some conscious and some unconscious, but apart
age that some of the most important psychological from this there is the total effect of the whole work,
developments and adjustments to the world have to which is something different from the parts. In
be made. abstract painting there is a preoccupation with
The drawings of children who have difficulty in 'symbolic content' of the whole painting, but even in
making a good adjustment to their environment pro- the most abstract paintings general symbols will
vide a rich store of material to help in discovering the occur such as the square and circle in the Portway
nature of the underlying stress. Melanie Klein has illustrated here. Though introduced initially for
written that analysis has shown 'that symbolism en- purely formal reasons will also find, in their own right,
ables the child to transfer not only interests, but also an unconscious response in the viewer. We can now
phantasies, anxieties and guilt to objects other than say, with the help of the study of children's drawings
people', but also that 'we have to consider each child's that there are a variety of ways in which the word
use of symbols in connexion with his particular 'symbol' is used in writing about works of art. These
emotions and anxieties and in relation to the whole uses are not contradictory, but the word needs
situation which is presented in the analysis, mere to be qualified on each occasion so that confusion
generalized translations of symbols are meaningless'. does not arise in the appreciation of the rich world of
Melanie Klein is not referring to symbols in children's symbols in art that can shape and transform our lives.