Children's Understanding and Production of Pictures, Drawings, and Art (PDF)

This volume presents an innovative approach to the psychological study of children's developing conceptions of pictures, drawings, and art. It brings together current theory and research on children's developing understanding and production of pictures, drawings, and art.

With contributions from leading international scholars, it is the first book to focus explicitly on children's knowledge and interpretations of pictorial representations, including their understanding of the roles of the artist and the viewer. It addresses what children of different ages know about the nature of pictures as representations of the world, as intentional communications conceived of by artists, and as esthetic objects, as well as what children of different ages understand about the different ways to depict objects and scenes.

The contributions discuss how children know what for them or for others is easy or difficult to draw, what they know about the strategies or aids for making a "good" drawing, the kinds of drawings and art they prefer, as well as their basis for making esthetic judgments and evaluating the quality of a drawing and individual style. Knowledge of how children think about pictures and of their metacognitive abilities will deepen our understanding of the drawings they produce and, more importantly, provide valuable insights into children's comprehension of the many forms of graphic representation that are part of contemporary culture.