CHILDREN'S ART ABILITIES: THE INTERRELATIONS AND FACTORIAL STRUCTURE OF TEN CHARACTERISTICS.

From data collected in one of several experiments carried out between 1936 and 1940 at the Cleveland Museum of Art for the purpose of investigating some aspects of children's art ability, 10 characteristics out of a large number of observed and itemized qualities in color drawings were selected: Representation, Color Use, Grouping, Intentional Asymmetry, Indefinite Shapes, Resemblance to Style, Motion, Use of Medium, Area Treatment, and Line Treatment. Each of these was divided into two categories: "Indifferent" and "Remarkable." These 10 dichotomous variables were then correlated with one another over all Ss (highest number 1011). This correlation matrix was factored, and three factors were retained for rotation to an interpretable solution. Factor I' was chosen, deliberately, to represent Age (chronological). Of the two other factors, which may be interpreted as nondevelopmental components (i.e., independent of chronological age), one emerged as a Style factor, quite closely related also to Shape and Color Use; the other was identified as representation of Motion, strongly sustained by the characteristics of planned Asymmetry and Grouping. The remaining four characteristics contribute in varying degrees to both of these factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]