2-1: Introduction

As we have mentioned, according to the literature, the question of early human figure drawings includes the question, whether the forms and the developmental sequence of "tadpole" - "transitional figure" - "conventional figure" which can be observed so frequently in the European and North American context is to be understood in principal as a "universal" or, controversely, as a "cultur-specific" phenomenon.

Thus, the debate on early human figure drawings of children is a primary aspect of the controversy on "universality" versus "conventionality" of early drawings and paintings as such.

In order to avoid missunderstandings: we do not take the view of one of these positions. The question of pictures as such, and particularly the question of early pictures in ontogeny, requires a third position, according to which an opposition of "nature" and "culture" is not the angle of view. We will discuss the differenciations to undertake for an investigation of the basic structure of pictures and their development in ontogeny as well as the difficulties to interpret phenomena of drawings of different cultural contexts in an upcoming publication. This publication will present the entire spectrum of early graphic expressions, including drawings and paintings of children from Europe, South India and Bali, Indonesia, aged 2 to 7. (Publication scheduled for May 2012, on www.early-pictures.ch/eu-as.)

The investigation of the archives of Gilles Porte will on their part contribute to the clarification of the controversy mentioned.

However, in order to illustrate the controversy and, at the same time, to uncover the horizon of the present archive and its investigation, in the following chapters, statements of different authors taking different views are extensively cited.