Happy Days

The turn of the century gave rise to the Pictorialists-photographers who made highly poetic and subjective images, often muted in focus, centering on themes of nature, family, and home. The Pictorialists' emphasis on photography as a fine art dovetailed perfectly with the romantic belief in the "priceless child," uncorrupted by-and existing outside-a world of commerce, schedules, and labor. Gertrude Käsebier's pastoral scene of children playing outdoors exemplifies these romantic values. The image is dramatically cropped to focus attention on the youngest child in the middle of the picture. This bold framing creates a sense of childhood as a world unto itself, timeless and untouched by the materiality of the everyday world.