ON QUALITY IN ART AND ART THERAPY Edith Kramer, ATR-BC, HLM During last year's conference I was approached by a young colleague, who told me that she used my books with much success when teaching her students. She had difficulty only with my idea of quality. Had qual ity any place in our work? Did we not encourage our patients to forget about making"good"pictures or sculptures? Did we not reassure them that we did not care what their work looked like that we would never be judgmental? Edith Kramer, ATR-BC, HLM pioneered art therapy. She teaches at both New York University and The George Washington University in their graduate art ther- apy programs. Her frequent lectures are enthusiastically received world wide. She has authored four books, three on art therapy with children and the latest contain- ing many articles first published in AJAT. She devotes considerable time to the stu dio, painting, and sculpting, and enjoys an international reputation spawned by her numerous solo shows Requests for reprints should be made to the author at: 95 Van Dam Street, New York, NY 10013 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ART THERAPY, VOL 40, MAY, 2002 218
ated in a panel on the ar econd Wind and Inner Satisfaction. A discussion on quality in art ther apy was a logical continuation of the dialogue begun the year earlier and a way of answering my colleague. When we talk to our patients about drawing, painting, and sculpting we are often confronted with the patient's feeling inadequate. "I can't draw a straight line. "I have not done any artwork since I was 6 years old""are familiar statements by patients. We reassure them again and again that it doesnt matter how they draw. Perhaps, we insist on this because we have become accus- tomed to the atrocious art that prevails in our western popular culture and in the media. We are fairly certain that any attempts to make a"pret- ty or an"artistic" picture will yield either some revolting kitsch or an imitation of some of the worst examples of modern art. Naturally, we must not hurt our patients' feelings by telling them that we expect their most serious attempts to paint a pretty picture would more often than not turn out to be something quite awful. And so we cir- cumvent the issue and tell them that we do not care what their work looks like, conveying that in art therapy anything goes It seems that some of us have been taken in by our own propaganda and feel that we, as art therapists, indeed, do not care about the qualit of our patients' art. Actually, we are attempting to free them from the constraints of artificial standards so that they can find their own expres sive style We see that our way of working is largely determined by the cultural environment in which we function. Suppose, for example, we were doing art therapy in an environment where folk art flourished. The request to draw or paint something would not appear outlandish to our patients, for folk artists and craftspeople are continuously embellishing their work with delightful additions that constitute a kind of overflow of their pleasure in the work of their hands. The prevailing pictorial stan- dards of this hypothetical cultural environment would probably be com- mensurable with the patients'faculties Our hypothetical patients would probably have tried their best without excessive distress. Their artwork would have reflected the cultural environment. and each individuals rtistic style, an d emotional condition. I have encountered this kind of 219 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ART THERAPY. VOL 40 MAY 2002
evidence in the artwork of some members of the Shaker communities While their superb craft gives no evidence of psychic distress that caused some of these individuals to seek refuge in these communities, their artwork may reveal emotional distress or disturbance Folk art is never in bad taste, but it also rarely attains greatness, for this requires the total devotion that only the committed artist can give However, whenever we encounter great art we usually also meet its shadow, kitsch or other manifestations of anti-art. It would indeed be worthwhile to write the history of kitsch that parallels the history of fine art I composed my lecture in France. I decided to investigate the nature of kitsch, by finding one small example that I could draw, tucked away in a corner of paris One always learns more about the nature of a work when one draws it rather than when one just con- templates it. I found a charming Parisian park embellished by a fountain that featured three graces. The fountain consisted of three shell-like circular structures Water crest of the fountain and descended three devilish horned heads, or were they meant to be fauns? Rue Lulli paris Their mouths. distort Edith Kramer ed into angry expres- sIons, spat streams of AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ART THERAPY, VOL 40, MAY 2002 220
water upon a shell-shaped structure. From there the water descended in several distinct streams to the base of the fountain, so that a veil of cas- cading water surrounded the three youthful women standing in the mid dle. Their ample but graceful bodies were partially draped, allowing glimpses of seductive nude breasts, thighs, and graceful necks and shoulders. The shell-like structure upon which they stood was adorned by faun-like heads spouting water with what seemed to me a discon tented expression, upon another shell-like basin, that constituted the base of the fountain. The total effect of the fountain was charming. But whenever I pursued any of the several elements of the composition with pencil and paper, I arrived at a dead end. The fauns, or devils, of the top structure spouted water with an angry expression. The heads beneath the shell that supported the three graces seemed to dispel water with a dis- gruntled expression. Whenever I tried to follow the flow of the drapery that covered the women's nudity, it somehow vanished to reappear sur- prisingly somewhere else, so that it remained elusive Within its overabundance of details the composition lacked logic or consistency. The designer of the fountain seemed to have no clear idea of what he or she wanted to convey. The designer seemed to have known only that there should be much live water and feminine charms sharp- ened by the masculine thrust in the three horned heads. Detail could have been added or omitted without it making much difference. Using this fountain as an example, we have a description of the quality of How can we characterize its opposite, good art? Three elements essential: evocative power, inner consistency, and an economy of me so that the quality of the work would be diminished if anything were added or omitted. Such work conveys an inner unity that gives great sat faction Returning from our excursion into the realm of fine arts to the quality of our patient's art, can we hope that some of their work would attain nner consistency? Should we indeed desire and support such a devel- opment, or would this diminish the spirit of acceptance of all and any Bom g the patient produces which may be essential in therapeutic work? thin th psychotherapy and art therapy imply a search for inner truth AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ART THERAPY, VOL MAY,2002
Unlike psychotherapy, where the transference relationship between patient and therapist is central, art therapy focuses on the patient's art work. Our communications remain within the symbolic domain the patient created. When our patient's artwork expresses inner truth, it invariably also attains formal consistency, thus good formal quality. In this work we are aided by the patients'desire to give form to their anx ety, preoccupation, and fantasy. We hope that giving form to such mate rial will make it possible for them to contemplate their art and come to terms with what they see Not every kind of art therapy gives the emphasis to form that I have Margaret Naumburg, who in the 1940,'s tried to make art therapy accept able to the psychiatric establishment then in power, encouraged her patients to make quick sketches only, and then to free associate to their own productions. She also encouraged patients to make free scribbles to find images in the scribbles, and elaborate on them. Such pictures are apt to bring forth latent material and can be helpful. But again, no high formal quality can be expected to emerge. We can understand that art therapists who apply such methods will have little opportunity to con- template the phenomenon of quality in their practice To conclude, whenever a patient's drawing, painting, or sculpture. expresses some inner truth forcefully without being hindered by unnec- essary additions, the work will attain good formal quality. Inner truth and good form constitute two sides of the same coin. In the cultural wasteland in which we function, it is surprising to encounter good qual ity in the work of artists, art therapists, and patients. It is not surprising, therefore, that young art therapists should be puzzled by the concept of quality AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ART THERAPY. VOL 40, MAY, 2002
