Symbolic and social constraints on the development of children's artistic style

"The chapters in this volume of New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development present original research that illuminates symbolic and social processes at work in children's artistic development. The research was conducted on children, spanning the toddler years into early adolescence, with close analyses of the children's artwork for symbolic sequences and developments, as well as the impact of social context on their artistic development. Several chapters present longitudinal designs in the study of children's art: in several, children's artwork is studied in naturalistic settings such as the home and school: and in one, children's art is assessed in more controlled settings and in a cross-sectional design. Three chapters address the following questions: Do children have a discernible artistic style? What features of art do judges use to identify style? Does style change over childhood and adolescence? If so, what developments in other domains may influence stylistic change in art? This volume should have theoretical, methodological, and empirical value to art development researchers but will also illuminate developmental issues of import to other scholars. Some topics with broad appeal are the interplay between children's endogenous skill and social support and continuities and discontinuities in development."--Jacket.