Product Description

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 postpubescent 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 Sculpture Park and Barnard College's Anne Higonnet discuss the history of photography and changing concepts of childhood in visual imagery, respectively.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #563386 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

Customer Reviews

...Found Otherwise
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 decorating mantles, wallets, Christmas cards and shoe boxes (or the digital equivalent thereof). Sometimes sad, sometimes disturbing, often poignant and occasionally amusing, this study of childhood demonstrates that children see, understand, and experience far more than adults are willing to give them credit.

Given the Tag Suggestions as I write this review, I would stress that this book is far more representative of the American Deep South styles of photographers such as Sally Mann, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, and Dave Anderson, and the urban styles of Diane Arbus and Bruce Davidson than the romantically eroticised visions of David Hamilton or the idyllic naturism characteristic of many of the Russian schools.

Review of Presumed Innocence
I couldn't really get into these photographs. They're very honest depictions of children, very realistic, very down to earth, but they don't, to me, show the awareness inside these children that the title "Presumed Innocence" promises. I think most people will just see these children as innocent children. I don't think there's much here that will shake that prevalent belief. The girl on the cover hints a bit at it, and there are a few very powerful pictures, but I just didn't find much here that really portrayed these children as anything but what the adults around them have made them. In another published book, of which I can't remember the name, I once read a poem written by a fifteen year old boy who had killed himself, and, to me, that one poem captured the hidden awareness of children more than any of these pictures did. I think for children to break free of the "innocent" label, they need to be demonstrated to be using their own free will. I would like to look at photographs of that.

Beautiful pictures, but ...
a collection or an exhibition doesn't necessarily make a good book. Flipping the pages made me somewhat uneasy and it took some time until I recognized what it was - there is no connection between the pictures, no red line except that they are all part of a collection. Some of the pictures belong to Sally Manns "Immediate Family", but here they are out of their context, so their nakedness doesn't make sense. I didn't read the introduction (may be I should have), but usually a good book doesn't need it to be good. No, collections are fine (who else but collectors will pay the artists?), sharing your collected art with the world is also a good thing, but this book will only collect dust in my shelf ...