Can it be proven that ART is a developed skill and you are not BORN WITH THE GIFT?

There have been many studies done on art and children. I recently read this article written by artist Robert Genn.

You might find this interesting and I think it proves that we are all artists, at least born that way. The skill of course must be built on, with some having higher apptitudes than others.

Dear Artist,

About fifty documented instances exist of children reared by animals. Children brought up by wolves or bears tend not to speak or draw. On the other hand, children born into a world of speech and art adopt the skills of their elders. Most cultures encourage children to make images as soon as they can hold a tool. Remarkably, at about four years of age, all children produce similar imagery. In a now-famous research project, Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980) found that toddlers from all cultures, when encouraged, do the following:

1. Draw from memory, not direct observation

2. Emphasize obvious features, omitting others

3. Sometimes add local characteristics or happenings

4. Omit proportion, perspective, and other devices of pictorial illusion

One of the typical drawings produced by small children is known as "tadpole figure" or "all-head man"--a round face with a few facial features and no torso. Piaget also discovered that children, as they grew older, sometimes corrected earlier images to bring them into line with their further knowledge. These "embellishers," he speculated, often became the ones who were selected and featured as artists by the societies that produced them. This penchant for embellishing, when appreciated, encourages further learning and proficiency.

Another pioneer in the study of child art was the Austrian artist and researcher Franz Cizek . He founded what became known as the Child Art Movement that promoted children's art as sacred. To Cizek it was important to cultivate and protect the early years of childhood from the destructive influences of adult art so that the innate originality and imaginations of children might not be tainted. Cizek was particularly hostile to colouring books. He cautioned against the "adult fallacy," which is the tendency to judge children's artwork by grown-up standards. Adults, who viewed the drawings of young children as mistakes with "wrong" proportions and "errors" of perspective, did not realize the children were drawing what they knew rather than what they saw. Remarkably, this mind-based imaging brings children's art parallel to some modern conceptual art where matching an object is not a necessity.

Robert Genn

http://clicks.robertgenn.com/wild-child.php

Not sure if it has been proven. I don't think it can be proven. I think art is both a developed skill and a gift. I think one can certainly learn art if he has passion about it. Without interest, you can't learn anything even though you have a potential (born with a gift) for it... If you are born with a gift, you'll learn it faster, provided you have an interest in it.

I think that anything that you work hard at you approve at that. I have been studying metals/jewelry for nearly four years now and I am so much better of an artist than when I began. I have learned about the principles of design and composition. I have a minor in art history, which gives me a reference point which I can evaluate the new art that I come across. I have learned many techniques for metalworking that allow me to manipulate my medium to fit to the sketches and drawing that I want to realize into actual works. So, no I don't think it is just something that you are born with. I think that certain types of people are more inclined than other to engage themselves in artistic or crafty endeavors, but those people can always better themselves. Knowledge is a continuous cycle of growth an repetition which can always be expanded upon.

Talent is something that may exist, but it also depends on how the mind works for that individual. Yes skill can develop with people, but for specific people it can develop 5 times faster. Every ones mind is unique in their own way & everyone learns totally different from anyone else. Everyone has their own way of thinking.

I don't think "everyone" can learn how to draw like Leonardo. I think it takes a specific form of reasoning & how the mind & brain functions as well as the spirit. It all depends on how the individual perceives the visual world.

I can't see just anybody being able to draw and paint and sculpt and actually be GOOD at it!

Sure-anyone can do it-but be good at it?

No.

I'm artistic and I have always felt it was a gift that was inherited from my Mother and her brother. And now I've passed it on to my two older children.

It is not like any trade! Give me a break!

While I was in grade school and H.S., I was one of the best Art students. Actually I started at a very young age. Some of the others tried hard, but they didn't have the gift.

Having NO inherent artistic talent! I'll throw in my 2 cents. I believe the contrary. Everyone I've ever know with big talent (I mean the kind of talent EVERYONE knows is significant, not just pretty good, but GREAT) has had it from an EARLY age. I sat next to a boy in gr. 2 and he could draw portraits that were shockingly good. He wasn't taught to do that--he could simply DO it. My father in law--same thing. I guess you may deduce that I believe huge artistic talent IS heritable.

I agree that talent can be REFINED and broadened, but pretty much not created by teaching it. (if I could be an artist by attending a class-I'd do it. )

Good question.

P.s. Analogous: Mark Twain said (not a quote) If you want to write, pick up a pencil. (he believed you're born with it) . Once again, I assert that education only REFINES. JMO :)

I think you can be taught an art but some people just have a natural talent that makes them stand out from the rest. Great soccer players are born with natural talent. You can't get beckham out of someone with no talent.

Something like that seems impossible to prove.

I believe that Art is just like any other skill, anyone (Or almost anyone) Can work hard and because adept, or at least average in it, but just like anything else in life, some people are born with great talent in it.

Same with something like.. say a sport. Just about anyone can train their body hard and become decent or good at it, but there are always those that pick up a baseball for the first time and start smacking around home-runs.

art is a bit of both. you are born with the gift but you need to enhance or develop your gift. if you do nothing with you get a bit rusty. don't know if it have been proven or not. most people i know have the gift or talent but take classes to enhance or improve their gift.

In my opinion anyone can learn to draw, just as many people, though not all, can learn to sing. Some people are born with a knack for drawing and they can get it right away, while others may have to work on it for a while. Although a lot of people say they CANT draw...they CAN learn. Just like they can learn how to do math et cetera...