Depicting Canada’s Children is a critical analysis of the visual representation of Canadian children from the seventeenth century to the present. Recognizing the importance of methodological diversity, these essays discuss understandings of children and childhood derived from depictions across a wide range of media and contexts. But rather than simply examine images in formal settings, the authors take into account the components of the images and the role of image-making in everyday life. The contributors provide a close study of the evolution of the figure of the child and shed light on the defining role children have played in the history of Canada and our assumptions about them. Rather than offer comprehensive historical coverage, this collection is a catalyst for further study through case studies that endorse innovative scholarship. This book will be of interest to scholars in art history, Canadian history, visual culture, Canadian studies, and the history of children.

Loren Lerner is a professor of art history at Concordia University, Montreal. In 2005, she was the curator of Picturing Her: Images of Girlhood at the McCord Museum. Recent publications include articles in Canadian Children’s Literature, Journal of Canadian Art History, and the McCord/AMS Colloquium, Comparative and Interdisciplinary Approaches to Child Health in the 20th Century.

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