Friday, December 18, 2009

They still draw pictures

My brother studies Spanish literature and for one his classes he analyzed children's pictures from the Spanish Civil War. He came across the book They Still Draw Pictures, a collection of these pictures. He learned from Koppitz that one of the signs of low self-esteem in children can be found in how they draw human figures in relation to other objects. Take, for example, picture #51 (right) of two people gathering oranges falling from a tree and putting them in a horse cart. The people are small and undetailed stick figures compared to the enormous oranges and much more realistic horse and cart. Compare this to #56 (left) where a child knocks down olives from the trees to see the contrast. Another of the effects of prolonged hunger and conflict.

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