Pictures of Innocence: The History and Crisis of Ideal Childhood (Interplay Arts + History + Theory) [Paperback]

Anne Higonnet (Author)

Book Description

Series: Interplay Arts + History + Theory | Publication Date: June 1998

The ideal of childhood innocence is perhaps the most cherished concept of modern culture, all the more so because it seems to be under siege. This book explores the images that are at once the most common, the most sacred, and the most controversial of our time, ranging from 18th-century portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds to greeting cards by Anne Geddes, from the ambiguous photographs of Lewis Carroll to those of Sally Mann. Anne Higonnet traces the visual history of ideal childhood from the pictorial invention of childhood innocence in 18th-century portraits to today's best-selling photography. Discussion then turns to the crisis in the ideal of childhood innocence. The uses and interpretations of photography can eroticize children as surely as the intentions of the original photographer, and these acute difficulties have provoked a dramatic reaction in the form of sweeping child pornography laws. The book ends by describing how we are presently in the midst of a radical redefinition of childhood itself, a change in cultural values inaugurated by images.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If any book of art criticism has the potential of becoming a bestseller, Pictures of Innocence is it. With her customary clarity of both thought and prose, Anne Higonnet, author of a biography of Berthe Morisot and Berth Morisot's Images of Women, examines childhood, cultural ideals, and popular and artistic images of children. She is both brilliant and careful in her analyses of paintings, photographs, and sculptures and the times in which they were made.

Pictures of Innocence--with l00 illustrations that range from Caravaggio's raunchy Cupid to Edward Weston's luminous, analytical nude studies of his son Neil to anonymous family Christmas-card snapshots--is the kickoff title in what is billed as "a new series of books about controversial themes and issues in the arts that cut across traditional disciplines." Higonnet marshals masses of material to develop her argument that the way we look at children and childhood is changing, and that this change affects our judgment of art, freedom of expression, sexuality, privacy, consent, exploitation, and child abuse.

"Pictures of children are at once the most common, the most sacred, and the most controversial images of our time," Higonnet writes in her introduction. Her concerns are not confined to the most obvious ones. In chapter 1, "The Romantic Child," Higonnet writes, "The image of the Romantic child replaces what we have lost, or what we fear to lose. Every sweetly sunny, innocently cute Romantic child image stows away a dark side: a threat of loss, of change, and, ultimately, of death."

In "Photographs Against the Law," Higonnet points out that "since the early 1980s, photography has been increasingly implicated in the crime of sexual child abuse." Carefully tracing this thread, she asks at one point, "Why photography? Because photographs can and do document actions." It comes down to the fact that a photograph (in this case, one by Dorothea Lange) "originated in the act of clicking a camera at a real person."

This complex, brilliant book will educate anyone who reads it. In its balanced, minutely detailed discussions of difficult issues, it illuminates issues that have heretofore been swamped in passionate but subjective rhetoric. --Peggy Moorman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Higonnet argues that the cultural definitions of childhood, mother, and family are changing. That change is evident, she says, in photography and society's reaction to it, particularly with regard to child pornography laws. Since photographs record images and not necessarily reality, the line between protecting real children from real acts and restricting freedom of expression needs to be carefully redrawn. In the book's largest section, a history of the child in art, she considers the commercialization of childhood imagery. Discussing the use, abuse, and intent of child pornography laws, she offers interesting explanations for the increasing concern over images from the private sphere, such as family snapshots. Contending that the Romantic ideal of childhood made children more vulnerable to exploitation, she calls for a shift from it to the concept of the knowing child, not totally innocent yet still deserving of adult protection. Higonnet may be overly dense, theoretical, feminist, Freudian, and relativistic for some, especially if they are uninterested in art, yet her unusual discussion of pornography and childhood will prove most thought provoking to others. Jennie Ver Steeg --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500280487
• ISBN-13: 978-0500280485
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,008,665 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Higonnet is smart, but she's wrong on the law, September 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Pictures of Innocence: The History and Crisis of Ideal Childhood (Interplay) (Hardcover)

There' a lot to recommend this book: Higonnet has you exercising your critical judgment on a plethora of everyday images, new and antiquarian, even if you disagree with her analysis.

However, readers should be aware that the author substantially misstates the law in several places. She cites some interpretive dicta from a district court case in California (US v. Dost) as being the actual text of the federal law. The federal law isn't nearly as vague as she suggests. Moreover she says that the Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1995 criminalized depictions of breasts and buttocks of minors. Untrue. The final bill passed deleted these provisions. These are serious omissions to a sensitive discussion.

Lawrence A. Stanley, Esq. NY, NY

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Long overdue book, September 17, 2008

By 

Kali Sekhmet (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pictures of Innocence: The History and Crisis of Ideal Childhood (Interplay Arts + History + Theory) (Paperback)

I think it's only fair to warn people that the text of this book may be a difficult read for some people, as it's very academic. I have a heavy interest in unconventional ideas about children, as I'm a mother myself and am increasingly becoming concerned about the hysterical child protection movement which seems to be shouting from all corners these days. When this book first came, I struggled with it, put it aside and left it for a while, even though I really wanted to understand it. A year later, after refining my other heavy interest -philosophy- which can also be very difficult to read, I came back to this book and found that I understood it perfectly. Now, I went to a lousy school which didn't teach science, English grammar, or even algebra by the time I left in the second year of high school at 15, so if I can comprehend this book, ANYONE can with a little patience.

That said, this is my favourite book at the moment. It's message -that our old image of the "innocent" child is a product of our own construction- is very timely and important. The author has a needle-sharp mind like I've never come across before and her social observations are almost always spot on. There is a depth to this book that makes it a read worth experiencing. When the author asks, while analyzing "Making a train": Is this girl sexy BECAUSE of her innocence? She's hitting a nerve. By portraying children as "weak" and "innocent" we are making them the ultimate image of trustworthiness and therefore very sexually appealing. We can adore them because they can't betray us, we can love them because they can't hurt us. Sexuality flourishes in the context of trust and freedom from fear of being betrayed or hurt, and children are the ultimate trustworthy person. They can't hurt us, because they are "innocent". But are they?

The author believes that a revolution is taking place, and that the image of the "knowing" child is fighting up against the "innocent" child image. However, this is where I feel that she may be wrong. I believe that the image that is really taking over is the image of the "sexual" child. I know that the author would call this "sexualization" a product of the "innocence" child image and an extension of it, rather than a revolution, however, the old image still didn't acknowledge this sexuality openly, and I believe that the new images do. The "sexual" child image portrays a child who is innocent in every way except for it's innate sexual allure -in a world where sex is for pleasure, no longer for reproductive purposes, the child is being portrayed as being able to provide sexual pleasures greater than an adult can give us. Just look around you at the advertising, media, music and the fact that there are mini-skirts for one year olds.

However, it's far too simplistic to claim that children are being sexualized alone because of their "weakness", the subject needs much more complex discussion then that. That's why we should read this book and think about what we really believe.

UPDATE: When I first reviewed this book, social workers were everywhere telling parents to "see their children through the eyes of a pedophile" and dress them appropriately. Now, nearly 10 years later, I think I was wrong in many things. I think the author was right, I think it IS time for people to acknowledge the "knowing" child. I think children are aware that they live in a sexual world, but are quite fine to cope with that. I also think that children like to wear revealing clothes at times, like bikinis or skirts, and that this doesn't mean they are expressing "adult sexuality", simply enjoying looking good and healthy. I think children are able to cope with adult sexuality in the media and are not victims of it -they are capable of deciphering right and wrong as they grow up.

4.0 out of 5 stars A sensitive subject dissected, May 1, 2009

By 

EnergyWork (SGV, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pictures of Innocence: The History and Crisis of Ideal Childhood (Interplay Arts + History + Theory) (Paperback)

Pictures of Innoncence is a softcover book with over 250 pages containing nine seperate chapters broken down into two parts and illustrated with about 100 photos with eight of which are in color. The chapter breakdowns are follow:

Part I THE INVENTION OF INNONCENCE

Chapter 1: The Romantic Child
Chapter 2: Every Mother's Child
Chapter 3: A Golden Age
Chapter 4: Innocence Inherited
Chapter 5: Snapshot Families

Part II AN IDEAL IN CRISIS

Chapter 6: Through the Looking Glass
Chapter 7: Private Pictures, Public Dangers
Chapter 8: Photographs Against the Law
Chapter 9: Knowing Child

Whether you agree or not with Anne Higonnet's assertions, her book at least displays an earnest and detailed attempt at examining a very volatile and delicate subject at this moment in history. In the early chapters, the auther sites many works of paintings as well as authors from the 19th century to illustrate her point. In the later chapters, she goes into some legal cases from the later half of the 20th century.

Detailed, well-illustrated, and perhapes a bit controversial this book presents the reader a chance to have an open discussion about a subject that many find uncomfortable. In a free society, its citizens should have the ability to shine a light on a topic and perhaps one day set it free, this book is one possible avenue to begin that exploration.