Child in Rocking Chair

Puzzling, delightful, and slightly disconcerting, this small painting is signed "E. L. George," but nothing has yet been discovered about the artist. The extremely precise style of the image enhances its almost surreal quality. George was clearly concerned with perspective, striving to create a believable sense of recession into depth through the lines of the floor and the diminutive size (compared to the child) of the cat, the clock, and the oval portraits on the bare wall. Other elements are more difficult to explain: the giant strawberries next to the child, for example, and the view through an open door of a cupboard or pantry with unexpectedly empty shelves. In contrast to the rather generalized rendering of most objects in the painting, the overlarge face of the child is highly specific both in its expression and in the careful delineation of features. This suggests the influence of photography, perhaps even a photographic source. And the child's worried appearance-possibly derived from the solemn expressions people assumed when having their photographs taken in this era-distinguishes this portrait from most contemporary images of children, which generally show their subjects as being cheerful and carefree. This text was adapted from Carol Troyen and Janet Comey, "Children in American Art" (Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 2007, in Japanese).