AMERICAN IMAGES OF CHILDHOOD IN AN AGE OF EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL REFORM, 1870-1915 By AMBER C. STITT Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Art History and Art CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY May 2013 2 CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES We hereby approve the dissertation of Amber C. Stitt, candidate for the PhD degree*. _________________Henry Adams________________ (chair of the committee) _________________Jenifer Neils_________________ _________________Gary Sampson_________________ _________________Renée Sentilles_________________ Date: March 8, 2013 *We also certify that written approval has been obtained for any proprietary material contained therein. 3 Table of Contents: List of Figures 11. Acknowledgments 38. Abstract 41. Introduction 43. Chapter I 90. Nineteenth-Century Children’s Social Reform 86. The Cruel Precedent. 88. The Cultural Trope of the “Bad Boy” 92. Revelations in Nineteenth-Century Childhood Pedagogy 97. Kindergarten 90. Friedrich Froebel 91. Froebel’s American Champions 93. Reflections of New Pedagogy in Children’s Literature 104. Thomas Bailey Aldrich 104. Mark Twain 107. The Role of Gender in Children’s Literature 110. Conclusions 114. Chapter II 117. Nineteenth-Century American Genre Painters 118. Predecessors 118. Early Themes of American Childhood 120. The Theme of Family Affection 121. 4 The Theme of the Stages of Life 128. Genre Painting 131. George Caleb Bingham 131. William Sidney Mount 137. The Predecessors: A Summary 144. The Innovators: Painters of the “Bad Boy” 145. Eastman Johnson 146. Background 147. Johnson’s Early Images of Children 151. The Iconic Work: Boy Rebellion 160. Johnson: Conclusions 165. Winslow Homer 166. Background 166. The Little Red Schoolhouse Paintings 170. The Gloucester Harbor Paintings 177. Social Commentary: Gender and Race 181. Homer: Conclusions 185. John George Brown 186. Background 187. Brown’s “Happy” Urchins 188. Brown: Conclusions 193. Conclusions: Painters, Pedagogues, and Authors 194. Conclusions: The Genre Painters 198. 5 Chapter III 202. Literature and Painting of the Genteel Tradition 202. A New Aesthetic, a New Mode of Painting Children 205. Thematic Overview: The Issue of Nationality 205. Thematic Overview: Gender-Inclusivity 207. Thematic Overview: A Parallel Literary Tradition 207. Thematic Overview: Ambiguity 209. Plan of Study 209. Literature of the Genteel Tradition 214. Novels and Children’s Literature 210. The Growth of Luxury Magazines 212. What Best-Sellers Revealed 215. Frances Hodgson Burnett: The Model Child 218. Rudyard Kipling: The Little Boy’s Adventure Story 223. Robert Louis Stevenson: Perfect Childhood 225. Louisa May Alcott: Empowering Women and Children 227. Henry James: Childhood “Innocence” Interrogated 231. An Illustrator of Idealized Childhood: Kate Greenaway 233. Painters of the Genteel Tradition 239. Some General Trends and Lesser-Known Practitioners 240. William Merritt Chase 244. Background 244. Chase and His Sheltered Children 248. 6 Abbott Handerson Thayer 256. Background 256. Thayer’s Child Angels 260. The Value of Thayer 263. John Singer Sargent 265. Background 267. Sargent: Painter of Unhappy Children 271. Sargent: Painter of Placating Children 282. Mary Cassatt 287. Background 288. Cassatt: Subversive or Conventional? 290. Cassatt and Candid Childhood 293. Conclusions 299. Burnett and Chase 300. Kipling, Sargent, and Cassatt 304. Stevenson and Thayer 306. Alcott and Cassatt 309. James and Sargent 312. Chapter IV 320. The Art Photographers 320. Pictorialism and Precedents 320. The Photo-Secession 322. 7 Alfred Stieglitz 324. Background 324. Stieglitz Before 1900: in the Manner of Paintings 325. Works Based on Paintings 327. Softened Documentary? 329. Stieglitz After 1900: Psychological Portraits 334. Clarence White 339. Background 339. White, Aesthetics, and Domesticity 340. Nudity and Soft-Focus 346. Lewis Carroll 342. White and Child Nudity 345. Child Nudity as a Subversive Device? 346. In the Tradition of Child Postmortem Portraits? 347. Peers Who Painted Children 349. White as a Teacher 351. What White’s Students Show Us 352. Gertrude Käsebier 354. Women and Art Photography 354. Background 356. Images That Conceal Childhood Suffering 360. Images of Ordinary Child Activities 363. Peers Who Painted Children 365. 8 Käsebier and Vanguard Child Reform 367. Conclusions 370. Chapter V 372. Twentieth-Century Children’s Social Reform 372. Demographics 372. Forerunners: “Deserving Poor” and Capitalist Self-Reliance 375. Defining Progressives 381. Who Were the Reformers? 385. Child Labor Reform 386. Theodore Roosevelt 390. Child Labor Strikes Organized By Children 396. Florence Kelley 402. The National Child Labor Committee, 1904 404. The Chicago Child Welfare Exhibit, 1911 405. Complications to Child Labor Reform: Race and Labor 407. Children’s Pedagogy Reform 414. Jane Addams 414. John Dewey 416. Helen Bradford Thompson Wooley 419. The Modern (Ferrer) School of New York 420. Compulsory Education Legislation 422. Other Societies and Institutions for Children’s Social Reform 423. Chapter VI 426. 9 Social Reform Photographers 426. European Antecedents 427. Jacob Riis 429. Background: The Early Career of Jacob Riis 430. The Making of An American 432. The Legacy of Jacob Riis 433. Jacob Riis: The Photographs 435. The Role of Improved Camera Technology 440. Jacob Riis: The Living Conditions of His Subjects 445. Riis: a Summary 451. Lewis Hine 453. Background 456. Hine and the National Child Labor Committee 460. Hine: A Chronology of Child Labor Photographs 462. Lewis Hine: Conclusions 478. Chapter VII 483. Twentieth-Century American Realist Painters 483. The Problem of “Realism” 486. The Eight: The First American Staged Art Controversy 492. The Ashcan School and Children 496. Robert Henri 497. Background 497. 10 Often Noted, Rarely Understood 501. Henri’s Portraits of African-American Children 502. Robert Henri: Reforming Prior Research 517. Robert Henri: Conclusions 521. George Luks 522. Background 523. George Luks: The Comic Strips 526. Luks’s Cartoons: Conclusions 534. George Luks: The Paintings 534. George Bellows 536. Background 536. Bellows’s Art of Children: Counter-Playing Tensions 539. Portraiture 539. Cityscapes 544. Conclusion 551. Appendix 557. Figures 597. Bibliography 623. 11 List of Figures: Intro.1, Winslow Homer, Snap the Whip, 1872. 43. Oil on canvas. Homer painted two versions of this canvas, the first larger and with some details not present in the second. The first: 22 x 36 ½ in. Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio. The second: 12 x 20 in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Intro.2, George Bellows, Forty-Two Kids, 1907. 43. Oil on canvas. 42 x 60 ¼ in. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Intro.3, Eastman Johnson, The Old Stagecoach, 1871. 47. Oil on canvas, 36 ¼ x 60 ⅛ in. Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Intro.4, William Merritt Chase, Elsie Lyde as Little Lord Fauntleroy, 1889. 59. Oil on canvas, 69 ¼ x 39 ½ in. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. Intro.5, John Singer Sargent, Caspar Goodrich, 1887. 60. Oil on canvas, 26 ⅛ x 19 ⅛ in. Private Collection. Intro.6, John Singer Sargent, The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit, 1882. 60. Oil on canvas, 87 ⅜ x 87 ⅝ in. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Intro.7, Mary Cassatt, Young Mother Sewing, ca.1900. 60. Oil on canvas, 36 ⅜ x 29 in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Intro.8, Winslow Homer, How Many Eggs?, 1873. 68. Watercolor and gouache on cardboard, 13 x 9 in. PriVate Collection. Intro.9, William Merritt Chase, Children Playing Parlor Croquet, ca. 1888. 69. Oil on canvas. Private Collection. Intro.10, John Singleton Copley, The Copley Family, 1776-77. 75. 12 Oil on canvas, 72 ½ x 90 ¼ in. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Intro.11, William Sidney Mount, School Boys Quarrelling, 1830. 75. Oil on canvas, 20 ¼ x 25 in. The Long Island Museum, Stony Brook, New York. Intro.12, Winslow Homer, The Blackboard, 1877. 76. Watercolor. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Intro.13, Winslow Homer, The Boat Builders, 1873. 76. Oil on panel, 6 x 10 ¼ in. Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. Intro.14, Winslow Homer, Dad’s Coming!, 1873. 76. Oil on panel, 9 x 13 ¼ in. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Intro.15, John George Brown, The Teacher, ca. 1866-68. 77. Oil on canvas, 16 x 26 in. Private Collection. Intro.16, John George Brown, Perfectly Happy, 1885. 77. Watercolor on paper, 20 x 13 in. Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio. Intro.17, Alfred Stieglitz, A Venetian Gamin, 1894. 78. Platinum print, 6 ¾ x 5 ⅛ in. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Intro.18, Alfred Stieglitz, Kitty, 1905. 78. Platinum print processed with mercury, 9 x 7 ¼ in. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Intro.19, Clarence White, Nude with Baby, 1912. 79. Gum bichromate print, 9 ⅝ x 6 ⅝ in. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Intro.20, Gertrude Käsebier, Lolly Pops, 1910. 79. Gelatin silver print, 11 ⅝ x 9 ¾ in. George Eastman House, Rochester, New York. 13 Intro.21, Gertrude Käsebier, The Picture Book (Beatrice Baxter Ruyl and Charles O’Malley), 1903. 79. Platinum print, 9 ½ x 13 ⅝ in. Museum of Modern Art, New York. Intro.22, Gertrude Käsebier, Blessed Art Thou Among Women, 1899-1900. 79. Platinum print, 9 1/16 x 5 3/16 in. Alfred Stieglitz Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Intro.23, Jacob Riis, Street Arabs, ca. 1890. 80. Photographic negative, gelatin dry plate. TheMuseum of the City of New York, New York. Intro.24, Lewis Hine, The Newsboy Asleep on the Steps, 1AM, ca.1912. 80. Gelatin silver print, 5 x 7 in. George Eastman House, Rochester, New York. Intro.25, Lewis Hine, Incorrect sitting position for postural deformity and dorsal curvature cases... Boston, Massachusetts, 1917. 81. Photographic print. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Intro.26, Robert Henri, Portrait of Willie Gee, 1904. 82. Oil on canvas, 31 ¼ x 26 ¼ in. Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey. Intro.27, George Luks, “Valentine’s Day in Hogan’s Alley,” New York World, February 14, 1897. 82.