Patterns of Artistic Development in Children: Comparative Studies of Talent

  • Constance Milbrath
Cambridge University Press, £40, $59.95

The artistic development of talented and less talented children was compared over a ten-year period by the developmental psychologist Constance Milbrath. She assessed the ages of development of different elements of drawing, including form, spatial relationships and composition. The study has been written up in a technical book, Patterns of Artistic Development in Children: Comparative Studies of Talent (Cambridge University Press, £40, $59.95). Milbrath describes the development of artistic talent as being dependent on both figurative and cognitive abilities. Here, a talented 11-year-old has drawn the back views of two people and a dog.