The History and Crisis of Ideal Childhood

Anne Higonnet


The ideal of childhood innocence is one of the most cherished concepts of modern Western culture. In this book Anne Higonnet traces the images that represent that ideal, beginning with the idealised portraits of the eighteenth century, through to the contemporary photographic images of Anne Geddes and Sally Mann. She then turns to the crisis besetting the ideal and looks at the ways in which advertising, photography and other media are subverting the image and creating ambivalence and distrust.

Written at the intersection between history, popular culture, censorship and the law, Pictures of Innocence will be fascinating reading for anyone who has ever questioned the ways in which children are portrayed in our society.


ISBN 0500 280487