by boys of about five (Fig. 14, a and b). As to its shape, it is most commonly circular or ovoid like the head. But the square or rectangular form is also found, and in the case of certain children
Fig. 14.
it is expressly stated that this came later. A triangular capelike form also appears now and again, as in the accompanying drawing by a boy of six (Fig. 14, c).[1] The treatment of the form of trunk often varies in the drawings of the same child.
At this stage there is no attempt to show the joining on of the head to the trunk by means of the neck. The oval of the head is either laid on the top of that of the trunk, or more commonly cuts off the upper end of the latter. The neck, when first added, is apt to take the exaggerated look of caricature. It may be represented by a single line, by a couple of parallel lines, or by a small oval or circle, as in the accompanying drawings by a girl of six and a boy of five respectively (Fig. 15, a and b; also Fig. 7, b).
It is noticeable that there is sometimes a double body, two oval contours being laid one upon the other. In certain cases this looks very like an expansion of the neck, as in the following drawing by the same boy that drew the round neck above (Fig. 16, a). In other cases the arrangement plainly does not aim at differentiating the neck, since this part is separately dealt with (Fig. 16, b). Here it may possibly mean a crude attempt to indicate the division of the trunk at the waist, as brought out espe-
- ↑ The opposite arrangement of a triangle on its apex occurs among savage drawings.