Fleeting

Childhood lasts only for a moment and then it is gone. In the following collection of art work the short-lived innocence of childhood is frozen for just a moment for the viewer to take in and perhaps remember as something they themselves once embodied. The main piece in the collection, “Jesse Bites,” a photograph taken by Sally Mann depicts a young girl caught in what appears to be a candid moment of childhood. The undisguised emotion so typical of young children in Mann’s photograph finds its way into each of the other pieces in this collection as well. The different mediums within this series are meant to help create diversity and interest from work to work. Each portrays youth in a different way. Although the subjects of the pieces are all from different points in time, they all share the common element of being wide-eyed children. In a world that is constantly moving, it is not often that people stop to remember a time when ignorance was bliss and fairytales were real. The following collection displays the beauty of youth in its most innocent forms. Take in the wide-eyed faces of a time that is so fleeting.

Sally Mann, Jessie Bites, 1985

Silver gelatin print, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987.1122

  Jessie Bites depicts a young girl (Jessie) covered in paint linked to the arm of someone who it seems she has just bitten. Perhaps the “messiness” of the photograph- the painted skin, the wrinkly shirt, the bitten arm - is what creates the feeling that the viewer is looking in on a candid moment in a girl’s childhood. The scowly crease on Jessie’s face only adds to the sense that the middle of a moment has been captured. One can almost reach out and touch the textures found in the photo and feel the jabbing stare of Jesse as she expresses child-like frustration. Mann’s photo brings the viewer into a split-second in time and pulls them into a moment of a young girl’s childhood.

Mary Cassatt, Kneeling in Armchair, ca. 1903

Drypoint; Only state, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987.582.5

 One of many portraits of young girls by Mary Cassatt, Kneeling in Armchair possesses a certain softness. Wispy lines and delicate curves create the face of small girl that can only be described as sweet. Cassatt’s choice to leave out portions of the chair and the lower body of the girl only serves to bring more emphasis to the full cheeks and rosebud lips of the little one leaning across the chair. The “sketchy” quality of the portrait perhaps could speak to the fleeting nature of youth as they appear to be so fragile that they might fade at any moment.

Clarence H. White, Baby Monsarrat, 1905

Platinum Print, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 33.43.316

 Different from the stiff, posed style of much early portraiture, Baby Monsarrat depicts infancy in almost a blur. The crisp white of the infant’s gown draws the viewer into the frame while the baby’s gaze holds the viewer’s interest. Why did White choose to capture this moment in time? Perhaps the baby was just pulling his/herself up using the doorframe, about to take his/her first steps. Again, a split-second is frozen in time and the striking innocence of an infant’s gaze is in no way dulled by the soft blur of the photograph.

Lorenz Frolich, Child in Crib, 1835-1903

Pen and dark brown and reddish ink, brush and grey wash over a graphite underdrawing, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 66.576.10

The earliest of all the pieces in this collection, Child in Crib depicts childhood through the lines and shadows of ink. Round, bright eyes shine from the child’s face and a tiny hand suspended in mid-air adds to the sweet playfulness of the piece. Dolls strewn around the crib and the tousled hair of the baby elevate the child-like feel. Who hasn’t seen a baby waking up with messy hair and rosy cheeks? Frolich’s Child in Crib, despite being ink instead of a photograph, still freezes a moment in time that many are familiar with - the moment of waking up as a child.

Walker Evans, [48 Portraits of Coggeshale Children Reading in Bed; Caroline Blackwood; Robert and Mary Frank], Feb. 1958

Film Negative, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994.252.71.1-48

  A young girl and her brother reading a book are depicted in this film negative by Walker Evans. The simplicity of that act - reading a book together - ties into the simplicity of childhood, a time when small pleasures like reading a book are perhaps more enjoyed than at any other point in one’s life. The crisp focus on the textiles within the frame of the negative make the scene almost tangible as the viewer takes in the delighted faces of the two children and the textures surrounding them. 

Walker Evans, [Unidentified Young Girl], 1930s

Film Negative, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994.255.253

 The clear focus of Evan’s photo evokes the feeling that perhaps the viewer could reach out and hold the hand of the the little girl staring out at them. Evan’s choice to compose the negative with the young girl’s face almost at the center serves to put all the emphasis on the young eyes. Texture and lighting play a large part in this piece as the wrinkles in the girl’s dress and the waves in her hair are crystal clear and her face is free of almost any shadow. Perhaps the bright, straight-on nature of the negative can speak to the vulnerability of childhood.

-Lynae Rockwell