From Ansel Adams' harrowing 1940s documentary photographs of transient migrant workers' children to Sally Mann's simultaneously erotic and innocent portraits of her adolescent children and other pre- and post-pubescent girls, images of children have fascinated and frustrated viewers since the inception of the medium. This excellent collection of vintage and contemporary photographs, spanning from the early twentieth century until now, covers all of the relevant genres, from documentary reportage to digitally manipulated constructions. It includes well-known black-and-white images by renowned masters, as well as very recent color work by American and European photographers alike. Among the 85 photographers included are Ansel Adams, Diane Arbus, Julie Blackmon, Manual Alvarez Bravo, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bruce Davidson, Rineke Dijkstra, Elliot Erwitt, Lalla Essaydi, Larry Fink, Robert Frank, Emmet Gowin, Pieter Hugo, Dorothea Lange, Gillian Laub, Helen Levitt, Sally Mann, Mary Ellen Mark, Tina Modotti, Abelardo Morell, Martin Parr and Doris Ulmann. Scholarly essays by Rachel Rosenfield Lafo of the DeCordova Museum and Barnard College's Anne Higonnet discuss the history of photography and changing concepts of childhood in visual imagery, respectively.
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Spanning several continents and encompassing nearly the entire history of photography, Presumed Innocence examines the other side of childhood through the eyes of some of the most notable photographers in the history of the art. Not too surprisingly from the title, the outlook leans towards the bleaker side, with many of the youths pictured appearing wise, worldly, and sometimes merely old beyond their years, often because they had no choice. The collected images offer a counterpoint to the abundant smiles... more info
