Images of Childhood

"Drawing on a rich legacy of pictorial evidence, Images of Childhood examines historical constructions of childhood and how they reinforce or challenge the prevailing view of it as a state of innocence. Each chapter explores visual elements such as composition, lighting, clothes, accessories, and body language in order to track our many different constructions of children: as members of the family unit, gendered, adults, schooled, aesthetic, victims, threats, economic value, and political propaganda. Skilfully navigating the distances between a multitude of perspectives on this topic, Paul Duncum considers how viewers' ways of seeing change throughout history, with age, or based on individual interpretation. He also shows how the child within contributes to the way adults gaze at children. The result is a text far broader in scope than any other in its field, as art history is interweaved with childhood studies to explore how we visually present the child - and to highlight the real life implications that these depictions and constructions have on children's rights"--