Coloring pages based on famous canvases of world art come out in different publishing houses. It is fashionable to offer your children to trace not ordinary flowers and butterflies, but the contours of paintings by Renoir and Van Gogh.
Basically, these coloring pages solve the problems of an art history order: the child learns to recognize artists, remembers the name and style – what he sees will remain in his head for a long time. You need to work with art history coloring together with the child, they require the presence of adults, storytelling and explanation. If there is no art criticism task, then any coloring will cope with the tasks of prescriptions.
Why are these albums so popular with parents today?
Anna Skavitina : Modern parents often feel gaps in their knowledge about art. They are embarrassed about it. And many people buy coloring pages, seemingly for a child, but, in fact, for themselves. It’s nice to think that a child develops aesthetic taste thanks to these books. This is partly true: he will most likely remember the name of the artist and the manner of his writing. But the true interest in the art of coloring will be aroused only with the participation of an adult who will tell the history of the paintings, explain the details, leaf through the artist’s album with the child.
Do they develop the imagination of children?
A.S. : Copying, transferring contours, of course, does not develop the imagination. Creativity appears only when the child draws himself – makes his own picture, albeit in the same style or on the same topic. But coloring books help the child to feel their own boundaries and the boundaries of the sheet, drawing, they teach to hatch and draw clear lines. Prepare your hand for writing.
What does a child feel when he understands that his drawing is far from his model – a masterpiece?
A.S. : If he is small, then he does not pay attention to the similarity of his work with the original. His imagination will complete the picture with the necessary details. A child of school age, most likely, knows that the picture was painted by a great artist, which means that there is no point in competing with him yet. Adults will hurt his self-esteem much more if they compare his drawing with the work of a peer.