Published to coincide with two major loan exhibitions at Compton Verney
Art Gallery & Park, Warwickshire: Painting Childhood: From Holbein to
Freud and Childhood Now (both 16 March - 16 June 2019), this publication
will address key works and themes from both exhibitions, exploring the
subject of children in art through a series of essays written by the
exhibition curators and external academics. It will include a complete
list of works in both shows. Children have always fascinated artists and
Painting Childhood will explore some of the most iconic paintings of
children produced over the past 500 years. Featuring stunning portraits,
amusing genre scenes and touching 'fancy pictures', the book will
examine both the creative process and the specific challenges posed by
painting children: from how to capture the fleeting moments of youth to
how to encourage young subjects to sit still. Accompanying the
exhibitions Painting Childhood: From Holbein to Freud and Childhood Now,
the book will discuss a wealth of masterpieces from British collections
by artists including Hans Holbein the Younger, Anthony van Dyck, Jan
Steen, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, William Hogarth, Joshua Reynolds,
Thomas Gainsborough, Johan Zoffany and John Everett Millais. These
iconic paintings will be considered alongside the preparatory sketches
that were made for them and the works that were made after them in an
exploration of the creative process and the artistic 'conversations'
that occurred throughout the centuries. Painting Childhood will also
explore 'intimate portraits' - artist's portrayals of their own
children. Paintings, sketches and sculptures by Stanley Spencer, Louise
Bourgeois, Jacob Epstein and Lucian Freud, among others, present highly
personal insights into the place of family within an artist's life, and
the ongoing dialogue between biography and creativity. This theme
extends to the present day, and the work of three contemporary
figurative painters - Chantal Joffe, Mark Fairnington and Matthew
Krishanu. Drawn to children as subjects, each of these London-based
artists depict childhood in very different ways. Together, they provide
fresh perspectives on what constitutes childhood today and reaffirm the
place of painting as a diverse and powerful artistic practice.
