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 childhood as a state of innocence. Each chapter explores how visual elements such as framing, points-of view, and lighting, as well as clothes, accessories, and body language, help to construct our many different conceptions of children: from members of the family unit and assumed gender roles; to schooling and aesthetic objects; through to their economic value and use in political propaganda. Skillfully navigating a multitude of perspectives on this topic, Paul Duncum considers both how our ideas, beliefs and values have changed throughout history and how some have remained unchanged. He also explores the cultural notion of "the child within" and how this has contributed to the way adults perceive children. The result is a text far broader in scope than any other in its field, as art history is interweaved with contemporary popular culture to explore how we visually represent childhood. In doing so, the book highlights the real-life implications that these representations have on children's rights.

By surveying historical constructions of childhood, this book explores how representations of the child in visual culture reinforce or challenge the dominant ideology about their innocence.

About the Author
Paul Duncum is Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois, USA, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Tasmania, Australia. He is the author of Picture Pedagogy (Bloomsbury, 2020) and Popular Pleasures (Bloomsbury, 2021).

Reviews
Anchored by respect for children and by compelling imagery, Paul Duncum comprehensively and captivatingly interrogates multiple and contradictory discourses that generate both personal and public conceptions of childhood. * Marissa McClure, Professor of Art Education, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA; Associate Editor, Childhood Art: An International Journal of Research *
Images convey so much more than we realize. This extraordinary and seminal text will surely expand, enrich, even interrogate, one's conceptions of what childhood has meant across history, cultural studies and psychology. * Rita L. Irwin, Distinguished University Scholar and Professor, Art Education, The University of British Columbia, Canada *
Deconstructing childhood imagery and its ideologies, this book outlines the different ways of understanding infancy throughout history. Gender, abuse, victimization, and commoditization are some of the issues the author reveals through a wide array of historical images. * Cesar Pena, Professor, School of Architecture & Design, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia *
Examining the trope of childhood innocence that permeates representations of children throughout Western history, this engaging text highlights the role images play in shaping our conceptions of childhood and our enduring cultural ambivalence toward children. * Christine Marme Thompson, Professor Emerita, Penn State University School of Visual Arts, USA *
Images of Childhood defamiliarizes childhood, showing that, far from being a normal and natural state, childhood is and always has been thoroughly mythologized. ... [It] demythologizes some of our most common assumptions about children and the nature of childhood. ... By shining a spotlight on the nexus of childhood and pictures, it sets itself apart from other texts in childhood studies ... This book is a sobering reminder that depictions of children serve ideological agendas that have little to do with actual children. * Journal of Childhood Studies *



Book Information
ISBN 9781350299948
Author Professor Emeritus Paul Duncum
Format Paperback
Page Count 280
Imprint Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC