
Young America
Childhood in 19th-Century Art and Culture
Claire Perry(Author)
Yale University Press
Published on 1. February 2006
Book
Hardback
248 pages
978-0-300-10620-6 (ISBN)
Description
A delightful look at how nineteenth-century American artists portrayed children and childhood
In an era of both optimism and anxiety about the nation's future, Americans in the nineteenth century focused attention on the cultivation and education of children as future citizens. Contemporary portrayals of children-in fine paintings, popular prints, illustrated primers, and advertisements-helped to shape cultural expectations: pictures of hardy country boys, intent schoolchildren, and little girls practicing embroidery were examples of the ways model Americans should look and behave. At the same time, images showing street urchins, young slaves, or children at work in factories reflected troubling conflicts in society.
This appealing book explores representations of children in relation to the currents of American culture, including urbanization, immigration, separate spheres of the genders, and the nation's professed devotion to egalitarianism. A generous selection of illustrations includes well-loved works by such artists as Winslow Homer and Eastman Johnson, as well as fascinating archival images. With engaging depictions of children from varied economic, racial, and geographic backgrounds, Young America opens a new window on the life and culture of the United States during a century of vast change and growth.
Published in association with the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University
In an era of both optimism and anxiety about the nation's future, Americans in the nineteenth century focused attention on the cultivation and education of children as future citizens. Contemporary portrayals of children-in fine paintings, popular prints, illustrated primers, and advertisements-helped to shape cultural expectations: pictures of hardy country boys, intent schoolchildren, and little girls practicing embroidery were examples of the ways model Americans should look and behave. At the same time, images showing street urchins, young slaves, or children at work in factories reflected troubling conflicts in society.
This appealing book explores representations of children in relation to the currents of American culture, including urbanization, immigration, separate spheres of the genders, and the nation's professed devotion to egalitarianism. A generous selection of illustrations includes well-loved works by such artists as Winslow Homer and Eastman Johnson, as well as fascinating archival images. With engaging depictions of children from varied economic, racial, and geographic backgrounds, Young America opens a new window on the life and culture of the United States during a century of vast change and growth.
Published in association with the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
64 b-w + 104 color illus.
Dimensions
Height: 279 mm
Width: 216 mm
Weight
1474 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-300-10620-6 (9780300106206)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Claire Perry is curator of American art at the Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University.