Child Creativity and the Visual Arts: From Secessionist Vienna to - Postwar Americ

Tracing the dissemination of Secessionist ideas of child creativity - from their origination in early-20th century Vienna through to their eventual commodification in postwar America - this book highlights the central role that visual art has played in child education and in nurturing creativity in elementary and preschool curricula. Taking the reader through the ideas of three artistic visionaries and their students; Franz Cizek, and Austrian-American emigres Emmy Zweybruck and Viktor Lowenfeld, the author reveals how these ideas developed in postwar America through a focus on child-centered methods of ''learning by doing'' in artistic practice. By centring the visual arts as a vital educational medium, we see how these teachings have been popularized as a means of nurturing creativity in childhood. Across three chapter length case-studies, interspersed with three ''mini chapters'' on the reception of each artist-educator''s radical teachings in the American education system, the book provides new interpretations into the impact of these three luminaries'' differing philosophies on a broader program of socio-political activism in the USA. Drawing on previously untapped archival and primary source materials, it blends deep material culture analysis with narrative elements to present a compelling account of the unrecognized influence of emigre art pedagogy on progressive, international art education. In doing so, it provides fresh transregional and thematic perspectives on early-1900s Vienna as a hotbed of creative and cultural experimentation and ''mecca'' of progressive art education.

Product details

• Authors: Megan Brandow-Faller
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 21.08.2025
• EAN: 9781350456792
• ISBN: 978-1-350-45679-2
• No. of pages: 264
• Dimensions: 162 mm x 236 mm x 22 mm
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Art history; USA, austria, 20th Century, Vienna, Decorative arts, ART / European, ART / History / Contemporary (1945-), ART / American / General, 21st Century, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, 21st century, c 2000 to c 2100, History of Art, History of art & design styles: from c 1900 -, History of Education, Material Culture, United States of America, USA, Early childhood care and education, Vienna Secession