6: Terms

Since the ontogenetic development of drawing and painting became the subject of a scientific investigation in the late 19th century, true to tradition, early graphic expressions are termed "scribblings» or "scribbles" ("Kritzeleien" in German, "gribouillages" in French, "scarabocchi" in Italian, "garabatos" in Spanish), and the general development of pictures in ontogeny is termed "children’s drawings" or "children's art" or "child art" ("Kinderzeichnung" in German, "dessin d'enfant" or "dessin de l'enfant" in French).

However, for different reasons, we consider these terms as critical and inappropriate. With regard to early graphic manifestations, we therefore prefer to term them "early graphic expressions" or "early pictures". (For details of our argumentation, cf. Maurer und Riboni, 2009b, 2010c, chapters 1-2 and 7-3, and Maurer, 2010, p. 265-271.)