The Arts And Human Development: A Psychological Study of the Artistic Process

by Howard Gardner

A revised edition of Gardner's classic on the development of creativity. Illustrated throughout with children's art, this book is a systematic examination of the relation between youthful participation in the arts and the ultimate craftsmanship attained by gifted artists.

Genres: Psychology, Education, Nonfiction

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Howard Gardner is the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He also holds positions as Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and Senior Director of Harvard Project Zero. Among numerous honors, Gardner received a MacArthur Prize Fellowship in 1981. He has received honorary degrees from 26 colleges and universities, including institutions in Bulgaria, Chile, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, and South Korea. In 2005 and again in 2008, he was selected by Foreign Policy and Prospect magazines as one of the 100 most influential public intellectuals in the world. The author of 25 books translated into 28 languages, and several hundred articles, Gardner is best known in educational circles for his theory of multiple intelligences, a critique of the notion that there exists but a single human intelligence that can be adequately assessed by standard psychometric instruments.

During the past two decades, Gardner and colleagues at Project Zero have been involved in the design of performance-based assessments; education for understanding; the use of multiple intelligences to achieve more personalized curriculum, instruction, and pedagogy; and the quality of interdisciplinary efforts in education. Since the middle 1990s, in collaboration with psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and William Damon, Gardner has directed the GoodWork Project-- a study of work that is excellent, engaging, and ethical. More recently, with long time Project Zero colleagues Lynn Barendsen and Wendy Fischman, he has conducted reflection sessions designed to enhance the understanding and incidence of good work among young people. With Carrie James and other colleagues at Project Zero, he is also investigating the nature of trust in contemporary society and ethical dimensions entailed in the use of the new digital media. Among new research undertakings are a study of effective collaboration among non-profit institutions in education and a study of conceptions of quality, nationally and internationally, in the contemporary era. In 2008 he delivered a set of three lectures at New York's Museum of Modern Art on the topic "The True, The Beautiful, and The Good: econsiderations in a post-modern, digital era."

from http://www.howardgardner.com/bio/bio....

Reviews

[Herrholz Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

`Might we not say that every child at play behaves like a creative writer in that he creates a world of his own, or, rather, rearranges the things of his world in a new way which pleases him? It would be wrong to think that he does not take that world seriously; on the contrary he takes his play very seriously and he expends a large amount of emotion on it… The creative writer does the same as the child at play. He creates a world of fantasy which he takes very seriously – that is, which he invests with large amounts of emotion – while separating it sharply from reality.` Freud.

In the introduction, the author says that some of the material in the book may appear academic or specialist and therefore deter a wider audience. This I found to be true in my case as I am not a professional or academic. However, by persevering I find that there is nearly always something to be learned from books like this even if much of it is beyond my own level. For anyone interested in the development of the artist from a young age and beyond, this book may be of value.
He talks about how infants may be very sensitive to the quality of love and attention they receive from those caring for them, and that they may be aware of whether that love is genuine or not or the extent to which it is well meant and unconditional. The question then arises - Do you love me? How much do you love me? Is my health and happiness dependent on the strength of this love? As adults we get the sense that you can feel if someone is genuine or not, especially in face to face encounters. The author also talks of how infants are very different in their sensitivity which again is linked to the nature – nurture, or genetic vs environmental influences, the extent to which each is expressed being probably virtually infinitely variable.
I skipped forward to part Six, (for me the most interesting chapter), and found some information on the early life of Jean-Paul Sartre and others. It will come as no surprise that the environment in to which a child is born has a profound effect on his/her outcome in many ways, not just concerning artistic development. The apparent symbiosis of the effects of genetics and the ambient atmosphere in which a child finds itself, is crucial. Being exposed to, for example, a vibrant atmosphere of musical creativity and having such influences imprinted on the young mind will have a profound effect on the outcome of that infant. But to what extent this happens will also vary from individual to individual. The combined effects of genetics and environment may not always result in the outcome one might expect. There are numerous examples where it is a select prodigy who has the desired qualities to assume the succession, be that in the nature of character, talent, or most likely a winning combination.
I came across this book when it was mentioned in John Carey`s book `What Good are the Arts?` and the two may make good companions. Howard Gardner approaches the subject from a scientific, empirical stand point and attempts to unwrap or pick apart the process in which the artist is conceived. John Carey is a literary critic and his main aim in his book seems to be to put literature at the top of the pile as far as art forms are concerned. His criticisms of much of art that is produced provides an interesting contrast to Howard Gardner`s book.

[Peaches · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot because Gardner makes a strong case for how composition is a practice in both art-making and writing, whether it was intentional or not. He has a strong stance, but all of the examples later weren't useful to me and are likely dated.