JAVIER ARIZABALO | ANE

The representation of children in art has a history as long as that of adults. From Egypt to Greece, through Roman art, both in sculpture and painting, they have gone hand in hand with the character that was intended to be given to these representations, whether it was an idealization, forming part of a mythology, an incarnation of feelings or trying to capture the individual.

In the medieval period, which can go from the 5th to the 15th century, in what is considered the West, the representation of these, is practically reduced to the iconography of the child-man Jesus. It is said that children were seen (and represented) as small adults.

It is again in the Renaissance when they appear as the embodiment of innocence, but also, childhood is conceived as a period of formation and preparation for adulthood, with which, they also form part of scenes where they “fulfill” their future roles.

Few works of art about children, even contemporary ones, fail to project, from the perspective of both the creator and the viewer, ideas such as innocence, delicacy, sensitivity, joy, vitality, promise for the future, curiosity, fragility, tenderness, beauty.

The childish features are not very accentuated, the smooth and soft skin, the fine hair, which usually materialize in less coarse presentations, which require a more refined technique, with less deep shadows, and more vivid colors.

Thanks to the fact that children have their natural playful attitude, ideas about reality, not formed and structured in a rigid way, as in adults, give rise to their insertion in less formalistic scenes, being able to establish a critique of the rigidity of maturity.

– Javier Arizabalo