The embodiment of style: A personal response to rita simon's the symbolism of style

Abstract

A decade has elapsed since Rita Simon's map of styles, applied to both the making of art and to the final product, was published; yet her ideas have received scant public acknowledgement. Her work is important because it makes strong connections between the worlds of art and art therapy, which so often seem to be antagonistic. This article outlines her circular structure of styles, relates it to its art-historical background and indicates some of its psychological implications. The article concludes by suggesting that we can best follow Rita not by slavishly adopting her scheme, but by using it as an example and adapting it to suit our own creative researches.