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National Art Education Association

Aesthetic Form and Education: Langer, Iglehart, Tumin, Zirbes, Hausman, Andrews, Robins,Ghiselin, Mursell, Taylor by Michael F. AndrewsReview by: John B. Mitchell-Lorraine JensenArt Education, Vol. 11, No. 9 (Dec., 1958), pp. 18-19Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3184504 .

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This emphasis upon the fleeting is also touchedupon by Miss Johnson in the preface; however,she soon makes it clear that while the mediummay be transient, her approach to it is constantand rock-rooted. She views the creation of art asthe creation of "true vitality" with design theunderlying and controlling factor. She urges a"constantly growing sensitivity to all we come incontact with . . . for only in a climate conduciveto the natural development of exploration and ex-perimentation can real growth take place."

This emphasis upon design is evident in thestructuring of the book with its logical sequence.The first half of the book is concerned with basicskillsand form-concepts; it includes, materials andtools, introduction to paper, an approach to form,cutting, surface treatment, curling, bending, fold-ing, scoring, geometric solids, moving forms,planes, and ways to fasten things together. It is byfar the most extensive and best treatment of thesubject that I have seen.In the latter part of the book the emphasis shiftsfrom the abstract and the formal to the concreteand the subjectmatter oriented. Here are foundnicely designed solutions to a variety of every-dayproblems encounted by the classroom teacher; i.e.,bulletin boards, alphabets, stand-up constructionsand the like. The special holiday events also comein for detailed treatment in such chapters as"Christmas Trees," "Angel Designs," "SantaClaus," "Christmas Decorations," "Valentines,""Easter Forms," and "May Day Baskets." Thepaper forms used to illustrate this section are, inlarge part, the work of Hazel Koenig and AileenMoseley, two talented artist-teachers from thechildren's creative art classes at the University ofWashington. The examples provided are a happyblend of the sophisticated and the naive, the func-tional and the fantastic, the charming and thehumorous.

This emphasis upon the fleeting is also touchedupon by Miss Johnson in the preface; however,she soon makes it clear that while the mediummay be transient, her approach to it is constantand rock-rooted. She views the creation of art asthe creation of "true vitality" with design theunderlying and controlling factor. She urges a"constantly growing sensitivity to all we come incontact with . . . for only in a climate conduciveto the natural development of exploration and ex-perimentation can real growth take place."

This emphasis upon design is evident in thestructuring of the book with its logical sequence.The first half of the book is concerned with basicskillsand form-concepts; it includes, materials andtools, introduction to paper, an approach to form,cutting, surface treatment, curling, bending, fold-ing, scoring, geometric solids, moving forms,planes, and ways to fasten things together. It is byfar the most extensive and best treatment of thesubject that I have seen.In the latter part of the book the emphasis shiftsfrom the abstract and the formal to the concreteand the subjectmatter oriented. Here are foundnicely designed solutions to a variety of every-dayproblems encounted by the classroom teacher; i.e.,bulletin boards, alphabets, stand-up constructionsand the like. The special holiday events also comein for detailed treatment in such chapters as"Christmas Trees," "Angel Designs," "SantaClaus," "Christmas Decorations," "Valentines,""Easter Forms," and "May Day Baskets." Thepaper forms used to illustrate this section are, inlarge part, the work of Hazel Koenig and AileenMoseley, two talented artist-teachers from thechildren's creative art classes at the University ofWashington. The examples provided are a happyblend of the sophisticated and the naive, the func-tional and the fantastic, the charming and thehumorous.

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Proven Aids to RichAchievementinARTEDUCATION

CRAYRITECrayons TRUTONECrayonsPoster Colors Finger PaintWater Colors Modeling Clay

MILTON BRADLEYCOMPANYSpringfield, Mass. New York Chicago

The photographs, made in large part by theStill Photography Production Unit of the Univer-sity of Washington, show sensitive technical pro-ficency and do much, along with a well designedpage layout, to give the book its functional, attrac-tive appearance.Here then is a versatile and useful book whichshould appeal to art educators, classroomteachers,and-if the reaction of my own eleven year oldson is any indication-to the youngstersthemselves.Aesthetic Form and Education: Langer, Iglehart,Tumin, Zirbes, Hausman, Andrews, Robins,Ghiselin, Mursell, Taylor. Edited by Michael F.Andrews. Syracuse University Press. 1958.This compilation is an outgrowth of the firstand second symposium conferences on creativearts education held at Syracuse University in theyear 1957-1958. It incorporatesthe lectures of thefirst two symposia as well as Dr. Jerome Hause-man's reflections on the panel discussion of thefirst conference.One senses in reading this publication that theactual conferences must have been distinctly suc-cessful undertakings-they now form a perpetualdivision of the University's summer session series-for there is an air of thoughtful inquiry whichpermeates the various lectures. Space does notpermit a full summary of each lecture; however,the following two excerpts may give the readersome sense of the whole.Dr. Susanne K. Langer, Professorof Philosophy,begins the series. She envisages the arts as neitherthe effervescences nor fripperies of cultural de-velopment, but rather she views them as a basicdriving force. Just as discursive anguage structuresand clarifies outward experiences, so do the artsorder the subjective reality of feelings and emo-tions. "Self-knowledge, insight into all phases oflife and mind spring from artistic imagination."The society that neglects the education of feeling,

PRATT INSTITUTETHEART SCHOOL

B.S. in Art Teacher Education, B.F.A. in Advertis-ing Design, Graphic Arts & Illustration, and In-terior Design. B. of Ind. Design, M.S. in Art Edu-cation and Master of Ind. Design.Director of Admissions, Brooklyn 5, N. Y.

The photographs, made in large part by theStill Photography Production Unit of the Univer-sity of Washington, show sensitive technical pro-ficency and do much, along with a well designedpage layout, to give the book its functional, attrac-tive appearance.Here then is a versatile and useful book whichshould appeal to art educators, classroomteachers,and-if the reaction of my own eleven year oldson is any indication-to the youngstersthemselves.Aesthetic Form and Education: Langer, Iglehart,Tumin, Zirbes, Hausman, Andrews, Robins,Ghiselin, Mursell, Taylor. Edited by Michael F.Andrews. Syracuse University Press. 1958.This compilation is an outgrowth of the firstand second symposium conferences on creativearts education held at Syracuse University in theyear 1957-1958. It incorporatesthe lectures of thefirst two symposia as well as Dr. Jerome Hause-man's reflections on the panel discussion of thefirst conference.One senses in reading this publication that theactual conferences must have been distinctly suc-cessful undertakings-they now form a perpetualdivision of the University's summer session series-for there is an air of thoughtful inquiry whichpermeates the various lectures. Space does notpermit a full summary of each lecture; however,the following two excerpts may give the readersome sense of the whole.Dr. Susanne K. Langer, Professorof Philosophy,begins the series. She envisages the arts as neitherthe effervescences nor fripperies of cultural de-velopment, but rather she views them as a basicdriving force. Just as discursive anguage structuresand clarifies outward experiences, so do the artsorder the subjective reality of feelings and emo-tions. "Self-knowledge, insight into all phases oflife and mind spring from artistic imagination."The society that neglects the education of feeling,

PRATT INSTITUTETHEART SCHOOL

B.S. in Art Teacher Education, B.F.A. in Advertis-ing Design, Graphic Arts & Illustration, and In-terior Design. B. of Ind. Design, M.S. in Art Edu-cation and Master of Ind. Design.Director of Admissions, Brooklyn 5, N. Y.

188

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concludes Dr. Langer," . . . gives itself up to form-less emotion."Professor Robert Iglehart, Head of the Depart-ment of Art at Michigan University, in an ex-tremely insightful and witty lecture "The Incon-stant Child" develops the disquieting thought thatchildhood is not a state but rather a metamorphos-ing series of culturally conjured images. To illus-trate his thesis, he describes four children "in-vented" by four markedly different cultures. Fromanthropological literature and mythology comesthe primitive child for whom childhood is a rig-orous training period-usually with sword and bow-to be gotten through so that life can truly begin.The Gothic or theological child, offspring of thecathedral builders, is not limited in time and isas much at home in the New England of theseventeenth and eighteenth century America as inmedieval Europe. Corrupt of Nature, empty ofgrace and bent into sin, this little straggler isguided by the whip's end.The child-symbol developed by the eighteenthcentury European Enlightenment was the childof reason; arriving in this world uncomplicated bya specific heredity, his education was a "processsomewhat like the construction of a little thinkingmachine."The Romantic child, largely the creation ofRousseau, "is neither heroic, damned, nor anempty vessel. He arrives, . . . already saved andit is the world that is lost."The development of these images and their im-plication on teacher and curriculum form the re-mainder of this lecture. In the lectures that follow:Dr. Melvin Tumin of Princeton University de-velops a definition of creativity. Dr. Laura Zirbes,Professor of Education Emeritus at Ohio StateUniversity, defines creative education by consider-ing those characteristics which are indicative ofthe creative approach. Dr. Michael F. Andrews,

"f^t ~~~TT~ ~ PublishedQuarterly,Haneaer Sample copy FREECrCrattsman to schools1 yr $4 2 yrs $7.50 3 yrs $10 5 yrs $15

Handweaver & Craftsman246 FIFTHAVE., NEW YORK 1 OREGON 9-2748

concludes Dr. Langer," . . . gives itself up to form-less emotion."Professor Robert Iglehart, Head of the Depart-ment of Art at Michigan University, in an ex-tremely insightful and witty lecture "The Incon-stant Child" develops the disquieting thought thatchildhood is not a state but rather a metamorphos-ing series of culturally conjured images. To illus-trate his thesis, he describes four children "in-vented" by four markedly different cultures. Fromanthropological literature and mythology comesthe primitive child for whom childhood is a rig-orous training period-usually with sword and bow-to be gotten through so that life can truly begin.The Gothic or theological child, offspring of thecathedral builders, is not limited in time and isas much at home in the New England of theseventeenth and eighteenth century America as inmedieval Europe. Corrupt of Nature, empty ofgrace and bent into sin, this little straggler isguided by the whip's end.The child-symbol developed by the eighteenthcentury European Enlightenment was the childof reason; arriving in this world uncomplicated bya specific heredity, his education was a "processsomewhat like the construction of a little thinkingmachine."The Romantic child, largely the creation ofRousseau, "is neither heroic, damned, nor anempty vessel. He arrives, . . . already saved andit is the world that is lost."The development of these images and their im-plication on teacher and curriculum form the re-mainder of this lecture. In the lectures that follow:Dr. Melvin Tumin of Princeton University de-velops a definition of creativity. Dr. Laura Zirbes,Professor of Education Emeritus at Ohio StateUniversity, defines creative education by consider-ing those characteristics which are indicative ofthe creative approach. Dr. Michael F. Andrews,

"f^t ~~~TT~ ~ PublishedQuarterly,Haneaer Sample copy FREECrCrattsman to schools1 yr $4 2 yrs $7.50 3 yrs $10 5 yrs $15

Handweaver & Craftsman246 FIFTHAVE., NEW YORK 1 OREGON 9-2748

Director of the Annual Symposium Conference,sees creative education as the natural counter-forceto science in the "dichotomic balance." SeymourRobins discusses perception as a creative pro-cess, while Brewster Ghiselin argues compellinglyfor the artist-teacher,as indeed does Dr. James L.Mursell. Dr. Harold Taylor discusses the creativearts and their relationship to democratic values.Michael F. Andrews provides a selective bibli-ography on the nature of creativity.Techniques of Painting: Henry Gasser,N.A. Rein-hold Publishing Corporation. New York. 1958.

Director of the Annual Symposium Conference,sees creative education as the natural counter-forceto science in the "dichotomic balance." SeymourRobins discusses perception as a creative pro-cess, while Brewster Ghiselin argues compellinglyfor the artist-teacher,as indeed does Dr. James L.Mursell. Dr. Harold Taylor discusses the creativearts and their relationship to democratic values.Michael F. Andrews provides a selective bibli-ography on the nature of creativity.Techniques of Painting: Henry Gasser,N.A. Rein-hold Publishing Corporation. New York. 1958.

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LLIANT COLOREDDESIGN PAPERLLIANT COLOREDDESIGN PAPER.iUsri class project now using coloredpapers are greatly improved:its AtaORA design paper.

eoi's,iid inks are not absorbed asy,::::iry project papers; designs remainl: i#e and remain crisp and brilliant.:;ge:4:50 sheets of 8 to 10 colorsHFolors may vary) 9 x 12", banded and::opularly priced. Also available in36" wide and sheets up to 24 x 36".

.iUsri class project now using coloredpapers are greatly improved:its AtaORA design paper.

eoi's,iid inks are not absorbed asy,::::iry project papers; designs remainl: i#e and remain crisp and brilliant.:;ge:4:50 sheets of 8 to 10 colorsHFolors may vary) 9 x 12", banded and::opularly priced. Also available in36" wide and sheets up to 24 x 36".

Write for complete catalog 581 and samples.bie nfa zg paper co., inc.metuchen, n. j.Write for complete catalog 581 and samples.bie nfa zg paper co., inc.metuchen, n. j.

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