The U-Shaped Curve in the Low Countries: A Replication Study

The U-curve model of graphic development posits a decline in aesthetic production in middle childhood. This model has been criticized as reflecting a preference for the modernist style in Western art, and a number of studies have tried to confirm or disprove its assumptions. This study is a partial replication of previous research in this field. To this end, artists, art educators, adult nonartists, and children judged drawings by children and adults from five different age groups: 5-, 8-, 11-, and 14-year-old and adult nonartists and artists. Subjects were asked to draw a self-portrait and to make a "sad" drawing. Outcomes show that, in contrast to adult nonartists and children, many art trained judges still hold a modernist view.