911爆料

911爆料 history professor Megan Brandow-Faller鈥檚 recently released book, 鈥�Child Creativity in the Visual Arts from Secessionist Vienna to Postwar America鈥� (Bloomsbury, 2025), traces the work of three Austrian artists and educators鈥擣ranz Ci啪ek, Emmy Zweybr眉ck-Prochaska and Victor Lowenfeld. Their ideas about art and childhood, which began in early 1900s Vienna, helped shape what is taught in American classrooms and homes.

Ci啪ek was one of the first art educators to encourage children to draw from their imaginations. Zweybr眉ck added a strong focus on crafts and design, especially in media that has historically been associated with women; and Lowenfeld became a key figure in American art education, known for showing how art could support children鈥檚 emotional and social development. He believed that children鈥檚 creativity was more important than simply copying what they saw.

Brandow-Faller spent three years researching in archives in Vienna and New York. Her interest was first sparked by Zweybr眉ck, a multi-talented artist, craftswoman and teacher she wrote about in her previous book, 鈥淭he Female Secession鈥� (Penn State University Press, 2020). 鈥淟ike many of the figures in my books, she was forced to flee to America because of her Jewish background,鈥� she said.

One of her most exciting discoveries was correspondence revealing Zweybr眉ck鈥檚 collaboration with American designers Charles and Ray Eames. 鈥淚 was stunned鈥攊n a positive way鈥攂y the rich intellectual connections between her and leading figures of mid-century American modernism,鈥� she said.

Brandow-Faller鈥檚 analysis shows that the focus on children鈥檚 creativity and toy design in mid-century modernism was linked to larger design trends of the time, especially the use of folk and 鈥減rimitive鈥� art in modern interiors. This trend also brought up complex issues related to class, race and ethnicity.

After fleeing Nazi-occupied Austria, Lowenfeld went on to head the art department at the Hampton Institute, an HBCU in Virginia, where he supported African American students as they created and showed art at the Museum of Modern Art鈥檚 (MoMA鈥檚) Young People鈥檚 Gallery in 1943, an exhibition that was a first for the museum. 鈥淛ewish refugees compared their suffering to that of Black Americans and dedicated themselves to fighting segregation in the arts,鈥� she said.

Drawing on research about DIY crafts and interviews with scholars and early childhood educators, the postscript explores how Lowenfeld鈥檚 criticisms of coloring books, cut-outs and children鈥檚 art competitions remain relevant in today鈥檚 digitally driven childhoods.

This is Brandow-Faller鈥檚 fourth book. Her other works include, 鈥�Childhood by Design: Toys and the Material Culture of Childhood鈥� (Bloomsbury, 2018) and 鈥�Erasures and Eradications in Viennese Modernism鈥� (Routledge, 2022), co-edited with Laura Morowitz.

Her next book, an intellectual biography of Lowenfeld, will center on his role in curating the groundbreaking MOMA exhibition. It will expand on the research she is currently conducting as part of a fellowship at the Center for Jewish Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center, where she is a 2025鈥�26 member of the Working Group on Jewish Studies