Margaret Naumburg

Margaret Naumburg (May 14, 1890 – February 26, 1983) was an American psychologist, progressive educator, author and among the first major theoreticians of art therapy. She named her approach dynamically oriented art therapy. Prior to working in art therapy, she founded the Walden School of New York City.

Life and work

Family Life

Margaret Naumburg was born in New York City on May 14, 1890, into a prominent German-Jewish family whose wealth and cultural capital positioned her within New York’s elite circles. Her father, Max Naumburg, descended from a long line of musicians and Reform Jewish community leaders originally from Bavaria. The family had a deep legacy in music patronage: her cousin Walter Naumburg founded the prestigious Naumburg Prize, and her uncle Elkan Naumburg funded the construction of the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park, where free classical concerts continue today.

Despite these privileged surroundings, Margaret’s childhood was emotionally difficult and creatively stifling. Her mother, Therese Kahnweiler Naumburg, was socially conservative and upheld rigid domestic norms, which Margaret found oppressive. Margaret later described her early home life as one in which “youthful efforts at creation were laughed at or brushed aside” and where compliance, silence, and order were expected above all else. As a teenager, she wrote on her bedroom wall: “To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing”—a bleak encapsulation of the psychic confinement she experienced within her family home.