Children: A First Art Book

Micklethwait’s selection of paintings is as always surprising, touching, funny and thought-provoking. These scenes of children at play, singing or asleep include some unusual pairings – a formal stylised Indian painting of the baby Krishna on a swing appears opposite a dynamic composition full of movement and jarring angles by the artist Ben Shahn. Paintings by Renoir, Mary Cassatt, Chardin and Murillo are included here, but there are pictures by less familiar artists too. If only we were told more about the artist of the luminous scene of children fishing from a boat, or the setting of the dappled sunlit scene of children playing ring-a-roses. There is no word from Lucy Micklethwait, no introduction or helpful notes with the picture lists. It seems a strange omission when elsewhere the author is such an articulate champion of the need to introduce children to art.