The Development Of Modern Art Therapy

Leonardo, Vol. 8, pp. 241-244. Pergamon Press 1975. Printed in Great Britain THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN ART THERAPY* Ernest Harms (1895-1974)** The effectin sickness of beautiful objects, and especially of brilliancy of color is hardIy appreciated at all . . ..People say the effect is only on the mind. It is no such thing. The effect is on the body, too. As little as we know about the way in which we are affectedbyform, by color and light, we do know this, that they have an actual physical effect . .. . Variety of form and brilliance of color in the objects presented to the patients is an actual means of recovery. Florence Nightingale, 1860. That art can be an important aid in procuring health in humans is considered by most to be the result of intensive extension of the search for successful therapeutic tools of modern medicine. If we turn our view back into history, we find in the world of primitive men, as in other earlier cultures, knowledge of and time-adapted practices of applying art and aesthetic elements as means of healing. Biblical sources tell how David tried to cure King Saul’s depression by playing the harp. Greek physicians recommended music and recitation in various forms (Celsus and Asclepiades)[l] as medicine against melancholia. With the advent of the modern age, the physician of the mentally ailing recommended hospitalization, which became the social pattern. Soon the occupation of inmates became a practical and therapeutic procedure. Originally this was called work therapy; the term occupational therapy was then substituted and is still in wide use today. Originally it meant economic help and keeping the patient busy; it was then modified, in Holland for instance, to a concrete institutional form. The legendary hamlet of Gheel was run by the retarded. At the Dutch mental state hospital of Maasoord only bedridden patients were excused from taking part in running the institution. Art and aesthetic impulses were not especially emphasized. They did appear, however, in a broad application after the start of the 19thcentury. The great German institutionalist Reil went so far as to request concert and theater performances for his inmates. In the U.S.A., Amariah Brigham’s progressive mind emphasized the importance of the role of beauty in the setup of Utica’s lunatic asylums [2]. He too felt the importance of music in the therapeutic area. Particularly those who dealt with the retarded and mentally ill among the young recognized the necessity of a total approach to their education, giving art and aesthetic impulses considerable emphasis. In Guggenbuehl’s Abendberg [3] and Karl Kahlbaum’s ‘Pedagogicum’ institution [4], aesthetic impulses were strongly infused. Along this line an impulsive progress led to the inclusion of some kind of occupational therapy into practically every physical and mental health institution. Among the variety of activities successfully introduced were aesthetically directed art and handicrafts. Nevertheless even today these activities are only related in a small degree to the specific task of dealing with special diseases for which * This unpublished manuscript was received on 9 May 1974 shortly before the death of the author and is reproduced as received. ** The author was widely known for his work in art psychotherapy and he was the first editor-in-chief of Art Psychotherapy, an international journal launched in 1973. they are recognized to be especially fitting. Motivation for this activity for the most part comes from what the patient likes to do and what kinds of materials are available. The interrelationship between the material applied and the specific pathological condition it ought to influence therapeutically is only didactically established to a limited degree. As a basis for this specific insight into the functional relationship of aesthetic experience and the aesthetic ways of experience in the pathological states, we have very little knowledge. Efforts have been underway since the beginning of the century to understand the pathological expression of the human mind and to apply aesthetic expressions toward the understanding of specific pathologies. Spurred on by the publication of the ingenious Hans Prinzhorn [5], outstanding psychopathologists have used art expression of their patients in order to diagnose their pathological conditions. We have similar diagnostic advice from Emil...