While British artist Adrian Hill coined the term art therapy in 1942, the following two ladies are considered the founding mothers of art therapy. Initial reference to the arts in health and treatment (according to history), sprouted from Sigmund Freud (1915-1973), who described making art as "a path that leads back from phantasy to reality" - but Margaret Naumburg and Edith Kramer's different approaches set the stage for the spectrum of art therapy's current approaches and influence within healthcare, education and our community. (Clark, 2017)
 | Margaret Naumburg (1890-1983) Margaret Naumburg was born in New York City in 1890. As an undergraduate, she studied at Barnard College. After completing her bachelor’s degree in 1911, Naumburg continued studying at the London School of Economics and Columbia |
University. She focused on music, speech therapy, and child education; she also studied with Maria Montessori in Rome. When Naumburg returned to the United States, she facilitated the first Montessori class in New York City, and in 1915, she founded her own school, known as the Walden School. (2)
Naumburg is widely credited with being the first psychotherapist to use art therapy, and she believed the modality could be used both to diagnose and treat mental health conditions. She directly influenced the introduction of a graduate level program at New York University in 1969. The program remains one of the most highly accredited art therapy programs in the world. Naumburg's book Dynamically Oriented Art Therapy was published in 1966. Dynamically oriented art therapy uses a psychodynamic approach, influenced by Sigmund Freud. The practice emphasizes the role of the unconscious; Naumburg believed that art could enable unconscious feelings to come to the fore, just as psychoanalysis had been traditionally used to address the unconscious. Naumburg frequently used art to help clients both envision and resolve interpersonal conflicts, and argued that the client, rather than the therapist, should interpret the meaning of art. (2)
Naumburg is widely credited with being the first psychotherapist to use art therapy, and she believed the modality could be used both to diagnose and treat mental health conditions. She directly influenced the introduction of a graduate level program at New York University in 1969. The program remains one of the most highly accredited art therapy programs in the world. Naumburg's book Dynamically Oriented Art Therapy was published in 1966. Dynamically oriented art therapy uses a psychodynamic approach, influenced by Sigmund Freud. The practice emphasizes the role of the unconscious; Naumburg believed that art could enable unconscious feelings to come to the fore, just as psychoanalysis had been traditionally used to address the unconscious. Naumburg frequently used art to help clients both envision and resolve interpersonal conflicts, and argued that the client, rather than the therapist, should interpret the meaning of art. (2)
| Edith Kramer (1916-2014) Kramer was born in Vienna in 1916, arriving in the US as a political refugee in 1938. Before her immigration she studied art with Friedl Dicker who was associated with the Bauhaus. Kramer followed Dicker to Prague, working with Dicker to help children whose parents were political refugees. (5) |  |
Kramer eventually taught art in the US, first at the Little Red School House in New York City and later at the Wiltwyck School for Boys, where she was given the title “art therapist.” At the Wiltwyck School, she worked with children who were labeled as “disturbed” and applied her interest and belief in psychoanalytic theory to her work. Out of her many contributions in the form of writings and presentations about art therapy as a result of her experiences, Kramer is probably best remembered for the connections between art making and the Freudian concept of sublimation. (5)
In her own words:
The emphasis ...is on the idea of art as therapy rather than on psychotherapy which uses art as a tool. My therapeutic medium is as old as mankind. Since human society has existed the arts have helped man to reconcile the eternal conflict between the individual's instinctual urges and the demands of society. Thus, all art is therapeutic in the broadest sense of the word. The artist who applies modern psychology in the field of art has to adapt his methods to the medium so that the therapeutic value of art is heightened by the introduction of therapeutic thinking, not destroyed or weakened by the introduction of concepts and methods that might be incompatible with the inner laws of artistic creation. (4)
In 1958, Kramer’s seminal work, Art Therapy in a Children’s Community, was published; in 1971, Art as Therapy with Children was published and became standard reading in art therapy graduate degree programs for many decades. (5)
In her own words:
The emphasis ...is on the idea of art as therapy rather than on psychotherapy which uses art as a tool. My therapeutic medium is as old as mankind. Since human society has existed the arts have helped man to reconcile the eternal conflict between the individual's instinctual urges and the demands of society. Thus, all art is therapeutic in the broadest sense of the word. The artist who applies modern psychology in the field of art has to adapt his methods to the medium so that the therapeutic value of art is heightened by the introduction of therapeutic thinking, not destroyed or weakened by the introduction of concepts and methods that might be incompatible with the inner laws of artistic creation. (4)
In 1958, Kramer’s seminal work, Art Therapy in a Children’s Community, was published; in 1971, Art as Therapy with Children was published and became standard reading in art therapy graduate degree programs for many decades. (5)
Naumburg's product-oriented stance is referred to as art in therapy, art psychotherapy or dynamically oriented art therapy. Kramer's process-oriented stance is know as art as therapy and puts greater value on the aesthetic merits of the finished art product. (Clark, 2017)
So, where does that leave all those adult colouring books that claim to be art therapy?!?
...history shows that creatively gifted individuals can, and sometimes do, self-destruct. Milia (2000) cautions that any arts activity can become a healing force only when facilitated by a skilled therapist. Creative expression, in and of itself, is not necessarily salubrious. Without proper containment and direction, it can be ineffective or even dangerous (Masterson 1990). Gerity (1999, p.76) writes that the task of the therapist is to "create a potential space, and indestructible holding environment... where the [client] can work safely, creatively, imaginatively, and constructively". (Clark, 2017)
While it can be healthy and life enriching to make art, it is not art therapy without the support and guidance of your art therapist and/or counsellor.
So, where does that leave all those adult colouring books that claim to be art therapy?!?
...history shows that creatively gifted individuals can, and sometimes do, self-destruct. Milia (2000) cautions that any arts activity can become a healing force only when facilitated by a skilled therapist. Creative expression, in and of itself, is not necessarily salubrious. Without proper containment and direction, it can be ineffective or even dangerous (Masterson 1990). Gerity (1999, p.76) writes that the task of the therapist is to "create a potential space, and indestructible holding environment... where the [client] can work safely, creatively, imaginatively, and constructively". (Clark, 2017)
While it can be healthy and life enriching to make art, it is not art therapy without the support and guidance of your art therapist and/or counsellor.
References
1. Clark, Susan M. (2017). Part 1: Chapter 2. DBT-Informed Art Therapy (pp.54-59).
2. http://www.goodtherapy.org; image also from same site.
3. Kramer image from http://edithkramer.com/wp02_fs.html
4. http://edithkramer.com/Edith_Kramer_Art_Therapy.html
5. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/arts-and-health/201402/edith-kramer-art-therapy-tells-the-truth
2. http://www.goodtherapy.org; image also from same site.
3. Kramer image from http://edithkramer.com/wp02_fs.html
4. http://edithkramer.com/Edith_Kramer_Art_Therapy.html
5. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/arts-and-health/201402/edith-kramer-art-therapy-tells-the-truth
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