Naumburg published her first book in 1928, based on her experience with the Walden School titled The Child and the World. Naumburg also held interests in Eastern Philosophy, the occult, psychodrama, parapsychology, modern surrealist art, and primitive art which played a role in the development of her theories as well.
From 1930 on she concerned herself primarily with developing art therapy technique and moved away from progressive education. Naumburg devoted much of her life to the establishment of art therapy as a discipline, which psychiatry as a field, really opposed. "She was forever pointing out that art therapy, with its use of symbolic language and imagery, was often a more effective road to the unconscious than the usual verbal approach of psychoanalysis and dynamic psychotherapy,” recounted her son (Cane, D. et al. 114).
Academically speaking, she wrote numerous papers and a total of five books in her life. From 1941-1947 she researched under Dr. Nolan D. C. Lewis at the New York Psychiatric Institute. Two books that she wrote stemmed from this research: Studies of the "Free" Art Expression of Behavior Problem Children and Adolescents as a Means of Diagnosis and Therapy (1947) and Schizophrenic Art: Its Meaning in Psychotherapy (1950). In 1953 Naumburg published Psychoneurotic Art and in 1966 she published Dynamically Oriented Art Therapy (Cane, D. et al. 114).
Florence Cane was born in 1882 and died in 1952. She was the second oldest child out of four siblings. Margaret was younger than her. She loved making things as a child, she decided early on to be an art teacher. Her experience with teachers who inhibited her creativity and also with those who encouraged it gave her the idea to learn more about what made a good art teacher (Cane, D. et al. 113). During the time in which Cane was a child the use of feelings as a source for creative art making was not popular among art teachers.
Florence believed that the person and the product (art) should be integrated. Movement, feeling, and thought were functions that combined help one achieve this integration. Daughter Mary Cane Robinson said of her mother, "Florence developed her style, her method, from an intuitive search for ways to stimulate the creative process in each person she was teaching; then she put it into a form that she could convey to others" (Cane, D. et al. 114).
Cane taught privately in her own home in addition to teaching at the Walden School. She also lectured to teachers groups and for a few years had a school of her own in Rockefeller Center. Later, she became the director of art for the Counseling Centre for Gifted Children at New York University. Cane held this position for fourteen years (Cane, D. et al. 114)
Florence Cane wrote The Artist in Each of Us in 1951. This is the only book she published. Cane’s primary goal was to identify the most effective way to bring out “the artist in each of us.” She believes that no amount of technical training could compare to the value of teaching a child to find creativity within himself. She believed no art can be better than its instrument, which in this case would be the producer, or the child. The release of a child’s emotions and ideas are believed to be the most consistent way to “integrate him as a human being.”
It is the firm belief of many educators that the creative ability of children disappears at adolescence. I am convinced that the contrary is true. The changes occurring at this time enhance rather than diminish the student’s ability. Feelings deepen, minds awaken, a great new hunger and thirst for life, understanding, experience, and expression take place. The desire and create are there; the fault lies rather in the quality of the teaching (Cane, F. 29)
Instead of grading the progression of technique in a child’s work, a teacher should be grading a child’s development as a person, for without this progress, a child’s work will never improve. The more fully aware a child is of himself, the more easily he will translate his aliveness to his work. This can be measured by the amount of inhibition a child has when creating, the level of relaxation during the creative process, among many other ways. Not only is the teacher responsible for his growth as an artist, but also for emotional, spiritual, and physical growth. In this way a teacher acts more as a guide than an instructor (Cane, F. 34).
Cane also insisted upon the self-development of teachers before they can effectively help students. She posed the question: without the proper state of mind, how can one help another human being reach the same level? Cane recognized the neglect educators faced, and regretfully admitted that until wisdom was more desired than power, their needs will not be sufficiently met. In her theory and methods alone, she aimed to inspire more respect for the educational system and its role in the growth of students (Cane, D. et al. 115).
Theories from psychoanalysis and art education are the foundations for the two poles of the field which are termed art psychotherapy and art as therapy. Whether the therapeutic process is inherent in talking about a work of art and in expressing oneself or in the specific act of creation has been a subject of considerable debate. Most art therapists find that they draw from both approaches, modifying what they do or emphasize according to the population with which they are working (Lark).
Art therapy is an effective treatment for the developmentally, medically, educationally, socially, or psychologically impaired; and is practiced in mental health, rehabilitation, medical, educational, and forensic institutions. Populations of all ages, races, and ethnic backgrounds are served by art therapists in individual, couples, family and group therapy formats (Lark).
Essential components of art therapy include selecting and using art materials, creating a visual or tactile image, and contemplating and making meaning of the art encounter and the image itself. These mental processes and physical actions create opportunities for the client to become aware of anomalies in thinking and feeling, and to create expanded options for viewing, clarifying, and making meaning of their feelings and beliefs and the events in their lives (Lark). Because the central work of art therapy is making art, aesthetic concepts such as balance, direction, or repetition, for example, as well as the technical qualities of the art materials, such as plasticity, resistance, softness and so forth, can be reframed in psychological terms, drawing on the work of Jungian and Gestalt psychology among others. An artifact can be viewed both for its potential symbolic and metaphoric content, as well as its composition in terms of its figure-ground relationships, the quality and completeness of its forms, relationships of internal components to each other and to the holding frame (paper, canvas), etc. Furthermore, the process of making the artifact is both concrete and metaphoric. The client's encounter with the art materials and creative process yields immediate behavioral information, which can also be viewed metaphorically by therapist and/or client as being an extension of the client's habitual response to life situations. Taking a narrative stance ("telling the story of making") incorporates principles of narrative psychology and offers the client an additional means for self understanding and corrective experience (Lark). These were highly ranked among the tenets of art therapy emphasized by Florence Cane.
Art taps into our internal images that hold keys to who we are and what we believe. Art makes visible those things that are difficult or painful see or discuss in words. Art helps the client to "see" more clearly and to feel a sense of living in a body. As a client feels, discovers, thinks and creates, new insights are gained about self, relationships, and life patterns. Art is used as a form of language in art therapy sessions, along with verbal discussion, to help the client reach a fuller self understanding. Cane documented many case studies in her book.
In my many years of work with children of all ages, I have become firmly convinced that sense of design and as well as sense of form are innate. I believe that these elements lie in each individual’s nature and can be called forth in the various ways that have been elucidated. The process has been traced from the first manifestations of a three-year-old through to the work of the more mature student (Cane, F. 173).”
Making art not only addresses what is wounded, it also supports what is strong, encouraging the individual to live more fully in the moment. It is especially effective for discovering and claiming an authentic sense of being whole, creative, and relational (Cane, F. 173).
Art therapy is no longer considered “alternative medicine”; in fact, it has helped many overcome obstacles that may not have been overcome using traditional methods. Through much innovativeness and research, both Margaret Naumburg and Florence Cane began the movement that will hopefully continue to help thousands as well as completely transform the modern system of education.
Works Cited
Cane Detre, K., T. Frank and C., Robinson, M. C Refsnes Kniazzeh. "Roots of Art Therapy: Margaret Naumburg (1890-1983) and Florence Cane (1882-1952): A Family Portrait." American Journal of Art Therapy (1983): 113-116.
Cane, Florence. The Artist in Each of Us. Washington, D.C.: Baker-Webster Printing Co., 1951.
Lark, Carol. "Art Therapy Overview." December 2001. The Art Therapy Center . 8 December 2008 <http://www.art-therapy.com/ArtTherapyOverview.htm>.
