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The Significance of Various Aspects in Drawings by Educationally Subnormal Children

Monyhull Hall, Birmingham

ABSTRACT

Various features of four simple drawing subjects (house, tree, man, woman), as executed on drawing paper of limited size (5 X 8 inches) by educationally subnormal children of both sexes, aged 13 to 15 +, and an average I.Q. of 64, have been compared. Though the two groups were matched for age and intelligence and showed a similar social and educational background, the girls have, nevertheless, been found to differ considerably from the boys in conception and execution of the drawings.

The following conclusions have been reached:

1. If given the choice between a paper position with the longer side parallel to the edge of the table where the child sits and a position where the shorter side of the paper is nearer the child, the girl prefers the first position, regardless of whether it suits the subject of the drawing or not. The boy, however, adapts the position of the drawing paper to the requirements of the subject.
   
2. There is a clearly-marked tendency on the girls' part to draw generally in smaller size than the boys.
   
3. A comparison of the sizes of the human figure reveals that sex and age of the draughtsmen may influence considerably the drawing. The youngest age group of the sample tended, irrespective of sex, to draw consistently their own sex larger than the opposite sex. The girls of all age groups tend to draw the man smaller than the woman.
   
4. The girls are poorer draughtsmen than the boys, and spend less time and care on the drawings. However, both sexes spend more work on the elaboration of interesting subjects. Nevertheless, generally speaking, the level of the girls' best drawings does not differ significantly from the level of the boys' most uninspired productions. Throughout the test most boys showed themselves superior in detailing and elaboration of the subjects.
   
5. The treatment of the window pattern of the house is characteristically different in the two sexes. The girls draw more corner windows than the boys, and tend to draw them smaller. They also frequently omit the fifth window placed at the intersection of the diagonals, which is characteristic for the boys. Instead of this, a marked tendency for transparency can be observed in the girls' drawings, a feature which is absent in the boys' products.
   
6. Among four types of trees, differentiated in this paper, two have been singled out as being preferred by opposite sexes. The girls like to draw trees with branches "decorated" at the ends by single leaves, whilst the boys draw more often trees which show foliage as well as branches.
   
7. In the drawings of the human figure, the girls show marked preference for full-face drawings whilst the boys do not show any particular liking. Another tendency in the girls' drawings, unobserved in the boys' work, is their choice of full face for their own sex and profile for the opposite sex.
   

Summarizing, it can be said that the "average" educationally subnormal girl between 13 and 15 + years and an I.Q. between 58 and 71, of the particular sample discussed, produced a set of drawings with the following characteristics:

All three subjects are drawn on paper with the longer side parallel to the artist. Her house is approximately 2 to 4 inches wide and 2 to 4 inches high. She tends to draw the woman taller than the man, giving her a size from 2 to nearly 4 inches, whilst the man, though often attaining the same height as the woman, is just as often made to shrink to 2 inches. She does not spend much care or time on her drawing, using about 4 minutes to finish the house, a little over 5 minutes to finish the drawing of a woman and a little less than 5 minutes to draw the man. The drawing of a woman is more carefully executed than that of the man or the house. She shows very little interest in details, and may often incorporate characteristic features into her drawings. She generally draws, for example, small windows placed in the corners of the house and may add interior features like tables and chairs to the drawing of the exterior of the house (transparency). Her drawings of a tree show very often a typical characteristic decorative feature when isolated leaves are attached to the ends of branches. She draws the human figure nearly always in full-face view, but tends in a few cases to draw the opposite sex in profile. She pays little attention to the commonly accepted sexual characteristics like indications of breasts and display of legs, but concentrates on the elaboration of cosmetical facial features, often transferred to her drawings of a man, and display of "party dresses."

The educationally subnormal boy of this sample of the same chronological age and the same I.Q., shows the following typical characteristics:

He adapts his drawing paper to the requirements of the subject, e.g. making use of the available space to obtain pleasing proportions as well as a chance to draw large. He produces a "big" drawing where the house has a width between 2 and 5 inches and a height between 2 and nearly 4 inches, and a person has a size between 3 to a little over 6 inches. He does not differentiate in size between the two sexes unless very young. Often considerable time is spent on his drawing, but he usually averages 7 minutes for the drawing of a house, 7 minutes for the man, and 6 minutes for the woman. His drawing is carefully done with the inclusion of many details If he draws the windows into the corners of the house he will very often add a fifth window at the intersection of the diagonals. He is not prone to transparency in the drawing of a house. The drawing of a tree tends to show foliage as well as branches. The human figure is drawn by him either in full view or profile, the latter position sometimes showing the bosom in the drawing of the woman. In both types of presentation he likes to show short skirt and legs when depicting a woman.

Various marked deviations in the girls' drawing performance from that of the normal school population, as reported by other investigators, have been mentioned. Our girls draw apparently smaller than the average girl and give also a markedly inferior performance in those qualitative aspects which have been commented upon by others as being the particular field where girls excel. No similar deviations concerning the boys could be recorded.

Without committing ourselves at present to a decision whether the differences in drawings shown by the two groups are "true sex differences," it has been pointed out that these differences may influence considerably the clinical interpretation of drawings, and that it is necessary to view the particular case against the appropriate background of a comparable group. It is clear that the clinical significance of "signs" will vary tremendously as long as we do not know with some degree of certainty whether the presence of a particular feature is merely due to the sex and the traditional upbringing of the artist, or whether it indicates an emotional reaction to a situation, perhaps particularly brought into sharp relief by the sex of the artist, but not necessarily largely due to it. Other investigations of different populations would assist considerably in clarifying these problems. It appears, however, to the writer that establishing of a typical drawing pattern of the institutionalized educationally subnormal child of both sexes may assist already now in screening out atypical cases and may, once the significance of atypical features has been better understood than at present, contribute to and affirm the clinical diagnosis.

Received for publication May 20, 1950.