ABSTRACT
Most young children’s figures are drawn full-face so that they look out directly at the viewer; the legs are straight and slightly apart and the arms are held away from the sides of the body. As Jacqueline Goodnow (1977) pointed out, children seem to go to great lengths to ensure that each body part has its own space; rarely does one part of the body overlap another part. This ‘canonical’ view of the figure is the best view in the sense that we can see that it has its full complement of facial features, two arms and two legs. By drawing this canonical view, children ensure that their figures are clearly recognizable. In Amelia Fysh’s collection nearly all of the figures are frontal views; certainly no child drew a face in profile. Four per cent drew arms in such a way that the figure seemed to be viewed from the side and 15 per cent drew both feet pointing in the same direction, although we do not know whether the children intended the feet to be in profile. Profile figures, then, are very rare among nursery school children. One of Amelia Fysh’s children, Timothy, developed normally in this respect and later, at the age of 9 years 10 months, drew profiles of his father, mother and sister (see Figure 47 ).
