Art and the Young: The Many Faces of Representation

Piaget's account of drawing development, though based on his limited investigation of the artistic domain, continues to dominate the field, especially his stages of drawing development with their emphasis on a shift from intellectual to visual realism and the attainment of perspective. In Piaget's view, the construction of logical thought is mirrored in the child's drawings, and photographic realism is seen as a desired endpoint of drawing development. These assumptions are critically reviewed in light of currently available data that challenge his position. These data derive from cross-sectional studies of normative development, longitudinal studies of gifted children from diverse cultural backgrounds, and drawings of gifted autistic children and retarded adults. These data call for a reassessment of Piaget's theory of drawing development and highlight the need for a more comprehensive account of artistic development.