Viktor Lowenfeld - Biography

Biography

Born in Linz, Austria in 1903, Viktor Lowenfeld had always been drawn to the arts. Through his personal narration, Lowenfeld mentioned that he was pulling toward music at an early age – probably four or five. He started to play violin at the age of nine or ten. And because he used to play from sound, rather than notes, he was often called a “Gypsy.” That same year Lowenfeld started painting. This early exposure to the visual and performing arts led him to a career devoted to the practice of education himself and the public in art.

Dr. Lowenfeld graduated from the College of Applied Arts in Vienna, as well as the Academy of Fine Arts in the same city. He later received his doctorate in Education from the University of Vienna, and during this time served as an elementary and secondary school teacher. While in Vienna, he also served as the director of art in the Blind Institute. In 1938 Lowenfeld fled to England before arriving in the United States. He became a citizen in 1946 after serving in the Navy as a wartime visual aids consultant.

Lowenfeld joined the Hampton Institute in Virginia in 1939 as assistant professor of Industrial Arts, studio art teacher, and later Chairman of the Art Department. In 1945 he was named curator of the distinguished collection of Black African Art at the Hampton Institute. Lowenfeld came to The Pennsylvania State University as professor of Art Education in 1946. Ten years later he became head of the newly founded Department of Art Education. He stayed in this position until his death in 1960. Dr. Lowenfeld is well known for his Visual-Haptic theory in Art Education which was assimilated from Viennese sources. He always regarded good teaching as a dialogue, therefore his motivation and evaluations had a strong Expressionist bias. His psychological training enabled him to gain a therapeutic position in his early months in America, labeling him a “Viennese Psychologist” in Time. He was an active leader in the National Art Education Association and The National Committee on Art Education.

According to Peter Smith, “Lowenfeld is still a name of power in American art education. Although his own death, and the deaths and retirements of his disciples, have lessened Lowenfeldian political in academia (and therefore in teacher education), his concepts go marching on.” (Lowenfeld in a Viennese Perspective: Formative Influences for the American Art Educator, Journal of Studies in Art Education). Lowenfeld’s philosophy reached a large audience through the theories documented in his books: Genesis of Sculpturing, 1932; Sculptures by the Blind, 1934; The Nature of Creativity, 1938; Creative and Mental Growth, 1947; and Your Child and his Art. He also published numerous articles on art education aesthetics, art for the handicapped, black art, and testing. He published more than one hundred articles.

Among his students was the American muralist John T. Biggers.