儿童绘画对现代绘画的影响
The influence of children's drawing on modern painting.

“我那五岁的小儿画得比他更好！”

“这到底是画什么？简直是胡闹！”

这是许多人士对于现代绘画所下的评语。这种论调的含意是浅露而不须加以任何解释的，但是处在我们这个时代，这种评论是含蓄着很大的误解；不但是对现代绘画的误解，尤其是对五岁小儿绘画的误解。由这些话语，我们可以很清楚的看出，父母是以成人的理论方法，根据他们临摹物象的纯技术观点来评论绘画，认为孩子所作的散漫杂乱的涂鸦式的绘画，是描画表象的一种拙劣尝试。他们不知道儿童的绘画心理，及美术概念，与成人的想象是有着很大的差别的。

回溯十九世纪末叶，许多的心理学家，教育家从事调查研究儿童绘画心理学，除了蒐集和分析大量的材料之外，并发现了儿童在自我艺术的境域内，有非常特出的表现，虽然这是教育家及心理学家在学理上研究的旨趣，但是我们也凭靠他们的贡献，得到许多有关儿童绘画的知识，并对美学上的绘画鉴识有重大的收获！

一般地说，儿童绘画的基本发展阶段，是有着惊人的共同点的，全世界的各国家，各种族，各社会阶层的同样年龄，同等智力的儿童，他们所表现的东西，现象是大致相同，错误与特点也是共同的。

儿童绘画具有美学上的深长意味，在他的绘画里，反映出一种新奇，坦诚和真挚的内心情感——他的情绪、恐惧、期望、幻念及思想等——儿童的表现是纯自我主义的，他的幻想是自由的，丰富的，他的绘画就是幻想的表现，只要某种事物刺激他的思路，他就在潜意识中形象化而造出五光十色的具体形象来。所以儿童是不喜欢临摹自然，他们是一贯地画他们所知道的，而不是他们所看见的事物。

儿童从事绘画的动机，并不是要研究绘画的方法，或希望成为一个画家，绘画在他只是作为表达情思的一种方式而已。根据心理学家研究的结果，认为儿童的绘画都含蓄着一个故事，不过以成人们的经验是很难发掘出他画里的意思的：

一个成人怎么会想象得到当一个孩子画一个人牵引着另一个人步上一架竖立着的梯子是寓意着上帝把死人从地狱步上天堂呢？

一个孩子画了一副脸相，具有耳、目、鼻，却少画上一张嘴巴，成人们又怎么会联想到这是表示安静的意思呢？

还有一个女孩子，无聊地独坐在家里，她想象着屋外下着的雨是多么的单调，多么的抑闷呀！于是她就引起了改善自然的决心，绘就了一张下雨的图画，把每一滴的雨点用不同的鲜艳颜色来彩饰，这种意造，成人们又怎能领会呢！

以上都是心理学家研究时收集的材料，足可证明儿童绘画的表现是倾向于激情的流露，成人因受现实环境的约束，罣碍也多，经验丰富，知识较广，所以反而难以达到这种意造的境域。

儿童观察事物，只注意新奇的一面，抓住他认为熟悉的、有趣的要点，加以渲染，夸张，意造，毅然地把他所认为无关系的其他部分完全丢弃。画家的创作与儿童的绘画，繁简虽不同，但是儿童绘画的历程，对于现代绘画的意识有很大的改变。在二十世纪的初叶，许多伟大的画家都致力研究非洲土人雕刻，洞窟穴壁的原始艺术及儿童绘画，采纳非洲土人艺术简明有力的线条，原始艺术的单纯素朴，儿童绘画的纯内心表现，运用变形夸张加强等技巧来加强物象质量的感觉。结合这三者，构成二十世纪艺术的特色，汇成现代绘画之洪流。回复原始绘画的趋势，在野兽派及德国表现派的作品中，都有蛛丝马迹，尤其是在立体派的抽象概念，更有彻底的表现。事实上，到二十世纪的今天，对原始艺术的赞赏，已经在现代绘画观念学上成为基本的教义了！

"My five-year-old child draws better than that!"

"What on earth is this? It's just nonsense!"

These are comments made by many regarding modern painting. The implication of such remarks is clear and needs no explanation. However, in our era, such comments harbor significant misunderstandings—not only about modern painting but especially about children's drawing. From these statements, it's evident that parents are using adult theoretical methods and their technical perspective of representing objects to judge paintings. They perceive the loose and chaotic scribbling of children as a poor attempt at representing reality. They fail to understand the psychology of children's drawing and their artistic concepts, which differ greatly from those of adults.

In the late 19th century, many psychologists and educators conducted research on the psychology of children's drawing. Apart from collecting and analyzing a vast amount of material, they discovered remarkable expressions within children's artistic realm. While this was the focus of educators and psychologists in terms of academic research, we also benefited significantly from their contributions, gaining valuable insights into children's drawing and aesthetic appreciation.

Generally speaking, there are striking similarities in the basic developmental stages of children's drawing. Children of the same age, with similar intelligence, from various countries, ethnicities, and social classes, tend to demonstrate roughly the same phenomena, with common errors and characteristics.

Children's drawing carries profound aesthetic significance. In their drawings, they reflect a sense of novelty, sincerity, and genuine inner emotions—such as their feelings, fears, expectations, fantasies, and thoughts. Children's expressions are purely egotistical; their fantasies are free and rich. Their drawings are expressions of imagination. As long as something stimulates their thoughts, they subconsciously visualize and create vivid and colorful images. Therefore, children do not enjoy copying nature; they consistently draw what they know rather than what they see.

The motive behind children's drawing is not to study drawing techniques or to become an artist. Drawing serves only as a means to express their emotions. According to the findings of psychologists, children's drawings often contain a hidden story, but it is difficult for adults to decipher the meaning behind their drawings:

How could an adult imagine that when a child draws one person leading another up a ladder, it symbolizes God leading the dead from hell to heaven?

When a child draws a face with ears, eyes, and a nose, but omits the mouth, how could adults associate it with representing silence?

Then there's the story of a girl, bored and sitting alone at home. She imagines the rain outside to be so dull and depressing. So she decides to improve nature and draws a picture of the rain, decorating each raindrop with different vibrant colors. How could adults understand such symbolism?

The materials collected during the research by psychologists are sufficient to prove that children's drawing tends to be an expression of passion. Adults, constrained by the realities of their environment and burdened with more obstacles, find it difficult to reach this realm of expression due to their extensive experience and broader knowledge.

Children observe things, focusing only on the novel aspects, seizing what they perceive as familiar and interesting points, and emphasizing, exaggerating, and creatively rendering them, resolutely discarding any other parts they deem irrelevant. Although the styles of painters and children's drawings differ in complexity, the developmental journey of children's drawing has brought about significant changes in the consciousness of modern painting.

In the early 20th century, many great artists dedicated themselves to studying the primitive art of African tribal sculptures, cave wall paintings, and children's drawings. They adopted the concise and powerful lines of African tribal art, the simplicity of primitive art, and the pure inner expression of children's drawing, utilizing techniques such as deformation and exaggeration to enhance the quality of object representation. The combination of these elements formed the characteristics of 20th-century art, contributing to the torrent of modern painting.

The trend towards primitive art appreciation is evident in the works of the Fauvists and the German Expressionists, particularly in the abstract concepts of Cubism, which represent a more thorough expression. In fact, by the 20th century, the appreciation of primitive art had become a fundamental tenet in the study of modern painting concepts!