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A History of art therapy in the United States
The Arts in Psychotherapy, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 371-372, 1995 Copyright 0 1995 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All rights reserved 0197-4556195 $9.50 + .M)
Pergamon
0197-4556(95)00024-O
BOOK REVIEW
A History of Art Therapy in the United States Maxine Borowsky (Mundelein,
IL: The American
Junge, PhD, A.T.R., Art Therapy
Association,
with Paige Pateracki Asawa, MA, A.T.R. Inc. 1994, 377 pages, $35 AATA members,
Some months ago, I came across a history of art therapy in Britain (Waller, 1991). This caused me to wonder why there was no similar history of art therapy in the US. Shortly afterwards, I received notice that a book on the subject had just been released. It was enough to make one wonder about the power of one’s own thoughts-and to make one grateful to the authors for meeting an obvious need. Published by the American Art Therapy Association (AATA) to commemorate its 25th anniversary, this monograph brings together material that had been scattered among art therapy texts and AATA newsletters and includes previously unpublished information based on letters, memoranda and personal reminiscences. It is an important addition to the art therapy literature and should prove a special boon to art therapy educators. There are five chapters, covering the growth of the profession from its precursors to its present state with a glance toward the future. Along the way, the struggles and conflicts surrounding the formation of AATA and the development of professional standards are presented in rich detail. There is also a review of art therapy literature that summarizes the contributions and theoretical orientations of many of America’s first and second generation art therapists. The work concludes with an appendix containing several items of interest: a chronology of the development of art therapy in the US, the minutes of the first organizational meeting for an art therapy association, AATA’s initial constitution, and a model job description for art therapist. In short, the work offers much that will enlighten the initiate. Further, the mature practitioner can find
$50 non-members)
substance as well. Distributed throughout the whole are bits of information and fresh insights that I-despite 20 plus years in the field-found interesting and illuminating. As an example of the first, I discovered that it was Mary Huntoon, practicing in the late 1930s under Karl Menninger at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Topeka, Kansas, who first used the words “dynamically oriented art therapy” to describe her work. (It is unclear as to whether Margaret Naumburg, the acknowledged mother of art therapy in the US, knowingly “borrowed” this label for her own approach.) As an example of the second, I found material to ponder in the discussion of the social context of art therapy presented in the last chapter. I was particularly taken with the idea that the women’s movement offers an explanation for the predominance of women in the field. The argument tendered is that if women are the more relational members of our species-as many women writers and researchers have proclaimed-then it follows that women artists would feel impelled to use their art in a relational way, that is, to help and nurture others. There is a sense of rightness to this explanation that deserves further investigation. And it suggests that art therapists no longer need apologize for being a largely women’s profession. An additional laudable feature of this book is the inclusion of information about the development of art therapy in Britain. Until now, the literature in the US has offered little that indicates art therapy is other than an American phenomenon-with one notable exception. A few years ago, this journal produced a special issue on the creative arts therapies in Europe 371
312
BOOK REVIEW
(Dubowski, 1992). As an art therapy educator, I was pleased when this occurred because now I had a resource to offer my students that would temper tendencies toward chauvinism. I am equally pleased that what promises to be a significant student text has taken note of a sister country’s parallel developmental process. We in the US have not been the only ones to “invent” art therapy. Indeed, it is likely that art therapy has developed, at least in part, as a result of social trends that have had global as well as national impact. Lest I create a false impression, let me state that this is not a perfect book. It has some flaws, which I will point out in the interests of encouraging striving for ever-illusive perfection. First, there are a considerable number of typographical errors. Second, although the main text uses large double-spaced type, making it easy on tired eyes, many of the figures present material in tiny type that induces eye strain. These flaws are minor. A more substantial criticism is that the writing reveals the seams where the contributions of the two authors are stitched together. At least this is a plausible explanation for the instances of unnecessary repetition of material that, for this reader, resulted in a feeling of tedium that detracted from the appreciation of the book’s overall lucid style and interesting content. Finally, the discussion of societal influences in chapter five neglects an important cultural phenomenon. The changing fashions of the art world are not considered. The progression from abstract expressionism, to minimal, pop and op art, to conceptual art resulted in art becoming increasingly intellectual and esoteric and increasingly removed from the realm of the average person’s felt experience. Surely this progression, which roughly coincided with the appearance and rapid expansion of art
therapy, provided some impetus for the growth of a profession that fosters personal creative expression accessible to all. These criticisms, however, do not outweigh my enthusiasm for this monograph. Maxine Junge presents her motivation for undertaking the necessary labor to produce it with these words from the introduction: In 1974, when I serendipitously stumbled into the profession of art therapy and had found a way to put art, creativity, and my interest in working with people together, I began to teach in [a] new graduate program in art therapy . . . There, I looked for some kind of written history of the field to present to my students and found none that seemed to represent the scope and depth of the field that even I, as a novice, had discovered. (p. xvi) Others of us have felt this need without taking steps to remedy the situation. Many thanks to Junge and Asawa for relieving us in such a scholarly manner of any obligation to do so. Frances F. Kaplan, DA, A.T.R. Book Review Editor References Dubowski, J. K. (Ed.). (1992). European perspectives on the creative arts therapies [Special issue]. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 19, 79-81. Wailer, D. (1991). Becoming a profession: The history of art therapy in Britain 1940-82. London & New York: TavistocW Routledge.
Pergamon
0197-4556(95)00024-O
BOOK REVIEW
A History of Art Therapy in the United States Maxine Borowsky (Mundelein,
IL: The American
Junge, PhD, A.T.R., Art Therapy
Association,
with Paige Pateracki Asawa, MA, A.T.R. Inc. 1994, 377 pages, $35 AATA members,
Some months ago, I came across a history of art therapy in Britain (Waller, 1991). This caused me to wonder why there was no similar history of art therapy in the US. Shortly afterwards, I received notice that a book on the subject had just been released. It was enough to make one wonder about the power of one’s own thoughts-and to make one grateful to the authors for meeting an obvious need. Published by the American Art Therapy Association (AATA) to commemorate its 25th anniversary, this monograph brings together material that had been scattered among art therapy texts and AATA newsletters and includes previously unpublished information based on letters, memoranda and personal reminiscences. It is an important addition to the art therapy literature and should prove a special boon to art therapy educators. There are five chapters, covering the growth of the profession from its precursors to its present state with a glance toward the future. Along the way, the struggles and conflicts surrounding the formation of AATA and the development of professional standards are presented in rich detail. There is also a review of art therapy literature that summarizes the contributions and theoretical orientations of many of America’s first and second generation art therapists. The work concludes with an appendix containing several items of interest: a chronology of the development of art therapy in the US, the minutes of the first organizational meeting for an art therapy association, AATA’s initial constitution, and a model job description for art therapist. In short, the work offers much that will enlighten the initiate. Further, the mature practitioner can find
$50 non-members)
substance as well. Distributed throughout the whole are bits of information and fresh insights that I-despite 20 plus years in the field-found interesting and illuminating. As an example of the first, I discovered that it was Mary Huntoon, practicing in the late 1930s under Karl Menninger at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Topeka, Kansas, who first used the words “dynamically oriented art therapy” to describe her work. (It is unclear as to whether Margaret Naumburg, the acknowledged mother of art therapy in the US, knowingly “borrowed” this label for her own approach.) As an example of the second, I found material to ponder in the discussion of the social context of art therapy presented in the last chapter. I was particularly taken with the idea that the women’s movement offers an explanation for the predominance of women in the field. The argument tendered is that if women are the more relational members of our species-as many women writers and researchers have proclaimed-then it follows that women artists would feel impelled to use their art in a relational way, that is, to help and nurture others. There is a sense of rightness to this explanation that deserves further investigation. And it suggests that art therapists no longer need apologize for being a largely women’s profession. An additional laudable feature of this book is the inclusion of information about the development of art therapy in Britain. Until now, the literature in the US has offered little that indicates art therapy is other than an American phenomenon-with one notable exception. A few years ago, this journal produced a special issue on the creative arts therapies in Europe 371
312
BOOK REVIEW
(Dubowski, 1992). As an art therapy educator, I was pleased when this occurred because now I had a resource to offer my students that would temper tendencies toward chauvinism. I am equally pleased that what promises to be a significant student text has taken note of a sister country’s parallel developmental process. We in the US have not been the only ones to “invent” art therapy. Indeed, it is likely that art therapy has developed, at least in part, as a result of social trends that have had global as well as national impact. Lest I create a false impression, let me state that this is not a perfect book. It has some flaws, which I will point out in the interests of encouraging striving for ever-illusive perfection. First, there are a considerable number of typographical errors. Second, although the main text uses large double-spaced type, making it easy on tired eyes, many of the figures present material in tiny type that induces eye strain. These flaws are minor. A more substantial criticism is that the writing reveals the seams where the contributions of the two authors are stitched together. At least this is a plausible explanation for the instances of unnecessary repetition of material that, for this reader, resulted in a feeling of tedium that detracted from the appreciation of the book’s overall lucid style and interesting content. Finally, the discussion of societal influences in chapter five neglects an important cultural phenomenon. The changing fashions of the art world are not considered. The progression from abstract expressionism, to minimal, pop and op art, to conceptual art resulted in art becoming increasingly intellectual and esoteric and increasingly removed from the realm of the average person’s felt experience. Surely this progression, which roughly coincided with the appearance and rapid expansion of art
therapy, provided some impetus for the growth of a profession that fosters personal creative expression accessible to all. These criticisms, however, do not outweigh my enthusiasm for this monograph. Maxine Junge presents her motivation for undertaking the necessary labor to produce it with these words from the introduction: In 1974, when I serendipitously stumbled into the profession of art therapy and had found a way to put art, creativity, and my interest in working with people together, I began to teach in [a] new graduate program in art therapy . . . There, I looked for some kind of written history of the field to present to my students and found none that seemed to represent the scope and depth of the field that even I, as a novice, had discovered. (p. xvi) Others of us have felt this need without taking steps to remedy the situation. Many thanks to Junge and Asawa for relieving us in such a scholarly manner of any obligation to do so. Frances F. Kaplan, DA, A.T.R. Book Review Editor References Dubowski, J. K. (Ed.). (1992). European perspectives on the creative arts therapies [Special issue]. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 19, 79-81. Wailer, D. (1991). Becoming a profession: The history of art therapy in Britain 1940-82. London & New York: TavistocW Routledge.