Heinz-Hermann Köhler [Paintings]

Heinz-Hermann Köhler grew up in a country village in Lower Saxony. In 1936 after completing elementary school, he moved in with relatives in nearby Hildesheim, a mid-sized provincial town, so he could attend the Agricultural School. In contrast to the relatively homogenous and intimate village of his childhood, Hildesheim's economic and social composition was diverse. People of many different classes, occupations, and religious faiths lived and worked in close proximity. Heinz-Hermann fills most of his watercolors and pencil drawings with the rich texture of town life: the games children played, the work adults did, and the movement of vehicles. He also depicted holiday celebrations which, in light of the recent Great Depression, display a relative wealth of decoration and toys that must have impressed him.

Heinz-Hermann was also impressed and influenced by the politics of the Third Reich. In the run up to a plebiscite, he captured the plethora of flags and calls for a "yes" vote on the street. In "Help Them!," Heinz-Hermann imaginatively enters into the domestic space of a typical German farm family, annotating that they have "no work/nothing to eat/the stable is empty." If he is personally familiar with their plight, he nonetheless views the farm from the outside, in a style otherwise associated with romantic images of the countryside but that is here framed by a political slogan: "Give to W[inter] H[elp]." Young Germans were often encouraged to raise money for this Nazi charity; here Heinz-Hermann reiterates a charged political appeal for charity and solidarity with farmers who are implicitly fellow "Aryans."

These images are rather different from classic propaganda images of Nazi parades, rallies, or broadsides, but they are not innocent of Nazi politics. What do they tell us about how Nazi politics operate in everyday life? The artist captured the dynamism of capitalism, urbanity, and modernity for instance in the broadsides he discovered on an pillar which advertised cigarettes next to calls to support 'freedom' with a 'yes' vote. What do they tell us about how children experienced the Third Reich?

Heinz-Hermann never returned to the farm. He was conscripted into the German Army during World War II to help conquer "living space" for the Aryan race. He was killed in battle.

Donation by Marlise Schmidt (nee Dröge) of Hildesheim. Courtesy of the Stadtarchiv Hildesheim Bestand 803-118-04-300, -12-300, -14-300, and -18-300. Annotated by Andrew Stuart Bergerson.

Devshirme System [Gravure]

The devshirme system began in the late 14th century. Christian boys were recruited by force to serve the Ottoman government. The boys were generally taken from the Balkan provinces, converted to Islam, and then passed through a series of examinations to determine their intelligence and capabilities. In special palace schools, they learned Arabic, Persian, Turkish, math, calligraphy, Islam, horsemanship, and/or weaponry. Working in the sultan's personal services was also part of the overall education, and this entailed assigning the boys to various rooms in the palace to look after such items as the sultan's hunting birds or the sultan's valuables. At the conclusion of each stage of the boys' training, the boys passed through a selection and promotion process. The academic education at the palace schools was one of the finest in the Islamic world and among its aims was to produce obedience, as well as high morals. Because of their loyalty to the state, the boys would become guards, gatekeepers, scribes, pages, governors, soldiers, or prime ministers, depending on their merit and seniority. Although the boys were essentially transformed into state slaves, most considered it an honor as it led to a highly privileged position in Ottoman administration. This system lasted through the 16th century. There is some evidence that some families (including Muslim families) voluntarily put forth their children to be admitted into this system because of the opportunities it provided.

This image shows a group of boys when they were first conscripted. The boys were dressed in red to avoid their escape. Boys were recruited from anywhere between 8 and 20 years of age.

Miniature illustration of the Devishirme, Topkapi Palace, Istanbul. Annotated by Heidi Morrison.

Illustration from The Maqamat of al-Hariri [Painting]

During the Abassid period and onward, children four or older in villages and urban centers began attending schools (maktabs) attached to mosques to obtain a basic education in religious matters. Students in a maktab sat in a semicircle on the floor around the teacher writing their lessons on a tablet and then repeating it back for correction. In this illustration, one boy recites for the teacher while another boy takes his turn pulling the ceiling fan. Attendance at maktabs was voluntary; typically, wealthier families paid for their child to attend and poorer students exchanged the running of a teacher's errands for tuition. Successful students could go on to study with individual scholars at madrasas, which were supported by an endowment.

Generally, girls did not attend schools and when they were educated, if at all, it was in separate facilities or by private tutors. Some women made notable contributions to Islamic scholarship in the medieval period, routinely giving lectures, traveling for knowledge, transmitting and critiquing hadith, and issuing legal decisions. They did so within the cultural conventions of modesty and avoiding, to the extent possible, mixing with men.

Illustration from the Maqamat of al-Hariri, painted by Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti, from Baghdad, Iraq 1237. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Annotated by Heidi Morrison.

Southeast Asia Visions Collection

Susan Fernsebner

Girls Making Snowman [Painting]

Motivated by wartime hysteria and racial sentiments following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 that ordered the removal of Japanese Americans on the West Coast to internment camps in the interior. Children were over half of the 110,000-120,000 Japanese Americans forced to leave friends, pets, possessions—even siblings (those with severe disabilities were excluded from camps).

The social realism of Sugimoto's paintings chronicle and critique the physical dislocation, social disruption, and material deprivation experienced by children and their families. In the militarized camps located in desolate areas, children inhabited cramped and cold barracks with scarce furnishings. Children attended make shift schools that lacked basic necessities and received scant portions and stale bread three times a day at a mess hall. Unappetizing food and inadequate nourishment compromised the health and happiness of children.

Japanese-born artist, Henry Sugimoto (1900-1990), his wife, and their 6-year-old daughter were among more than 8,000 inhabitants at the Jerome camp in Arkansas where he painted this picture around 1943. This seemingly simple painting connects the bleak reality of everyday life with the play of interned children like his daughter.

Children engaged in the expressive "language" of play provide researchers with a challenging form of documentary evidence. What purposes might their play have served? As an expression of feelings about their internment? An escape from an unjust reality? A fantasy about a better place? Was their play a wish? Compare this snowman with the traditional Japanese yuki (snow) daruma (the monk who founded Zen Buddhism and who also serves as a wishing doll). What evidence is there of racial and cultural conflict? Does that explain the contrast between the snowman's luminescence and the girls' dark complexions? In what ways might the iconic American "snowman" have served as an ironic reference to the customs and values of the society that incarcerated its youngest citizens because of their race?

Henry Sugimoto, "Girls Making Snowman" (Girls Making a Snowman in Jerome Camp), 1943. Gift of Madeline Sugimoto and Naomi Tagawa, Japanese American National Museum (92.97.96). Annotated by Miriam Forman-Brunell.

Krishna and the Cremation of Putana [Miniature Painting]

Krishna is known in the stories of the Bhagavata-Purana as the 8th incarnation of the god Vishnu, destined to perform great deeds and remove the evils of the world. Shown in this Indian miniature watercolor painting as a child with grey-blue skin, he is a popular deity, a divine hero who personifies superhuman powers as well as human hopes and failings. Stories of Krishna's childhood with his loving foster-mother Yashoda in a village of cow-herds are much beloved and illustrated in paintings and sculpture.

The first demon to threaten the infant Krishna was the flying ogress Putana who abducted and killed infants and children by feeding them poison milk from her breasts. Putana, in the form of a beautiful woman, came to the house of Yashoda to kill Krishna. Yashoda did not recognize the danger, and allowed Putana to nurse the infant Krishna. Krishna, destroyer of wickedness, was immune to the poison. Holding fast to her breast, he sucked her milk and with it, sucked the life out of the ogre. Putana writhed with convulsions making the ground shake. As Krishna held her, she assumed her ugly form and fell to the ground, uprooting trees over a wide area. The villagers approached the corpse to find Krishna playing on top of her. As the painting shows, the villagers chopped Putana into pieces and prepared a cremation fire. The women and Yashoda bathed Krishna lovingly, rocking his body over a basin and gently pouring the water into a stream over a cow's tail.

The miniature painting belongs to the Pahari style of the Himalayan foothills, a courtly style of the Rajput kings that flourished from the 17th to the 19th century.

"Putana's Cremation," leaf from a Bhagavata Purana, ca. 1770, from the Punjab Hills, Guler or Kangra, opaque watercolor on paper, 22.5 x 30.5 cm, Rajput, Pahari, Guler or Kangra Set 40, Bharat Kala Bhavan III: Pahari Paintings, Uttar Pradesh, Varanasi (Banaras), Banaras Hindu University, Bharat Kala Bhavan, BKB #6701. Annotated by Susan Douglass.

Krishna Defeats the Whirlwind [Miniature Painting]

Krishna is known in the stories of the Bhagavata-Purana as the 8th incarnation of the god Vishnu, destined to perform great deeds and remove the evils of the world. Shown in this Indian miniature watercolor painting as a child with grey-blue skin, he is a popular deity, a divine hero who personifies superhuman powers as well as human hopes and failings. Stories of Krishna’s childhood with his loving foster-mother Yashoda in a village of cow-herds are much beloved and illustrated in paintings and sculpture.

This painting, which measures 22.5 x 30.5 centimeters, illustrates Krishna defeating a whirlwind. According to the Bhagavata Purana, when Krishna was five months old, he was attacked by Trinavart, the demon of storm and whirlwind. The demon took hold of the child Krishna and spun with him in the air. While Yashoda and others anxiously searched for the child, he gripped the demon with tenacious strength, causing it to fall to its death on a huge rock. Krishna landed safely, cushioned by the monster’s body. In awe of his feat, Yashoda picked up the child and hugged him to her bosom while the other women looked on with affection.

The miniature painting is dated to 1770 CE, and belongs to the Pahari style of the Himalayan foothills, a courtly style of the Rajput kings that flourished from the 17th to the 19th century. This painting shows little of the ordinary surroundings of the village, focusing instead on the supernatural whirlwind, ominous sky, bent trees, and blowing curtain. Krishna appears three times in the same panel, showing the dramatic sequence of events from right to left across a single panel, in a narrative technique sometimes used by comic book artists on splash pages today, in which all the action appears in one frame.

Rajput, Pahari, Guler or Kangra school, Set 40, Bharat Kala Bhavan III: Pahari Paintings Repository Uttar Pradesh, Varanasi (Banaras), Banaras Hindu University, Bharat Kala Bhavan, BKB #6854; Photo: © Asian Art Archives, University of Michigan Text source: Chandra, Suresh. Encyclopaedia of Hindu gods and goddesses. Sarup & Sons, 1998, p. 181–82. Annotated by Susan Douglass.

Krishna Tied to a Mortar for Stealing Butter [Miniature Painting]

Krishna is known in the stories of the Bhagavata-Purana as the 8th incarnation of the god Vishnu, destined to perform great deeds and remove the evils of the world. Shown in this Indian miniature watercolor painting as a child with grey-blue skin, he is a popular deity, a divine hero who personifies superhuman powers as well as human hopes and failings. Stories of Krishna's childhood with his loving foster-mother Yashoda in a village of cow-herds are much beloved and illustrated in paintings and sculptures.

This painting reflects Krishna's mischievous prank of entering houses and stealing cream, curds, and butter while the women are absorbed in household chores. To reach the pots hanging from the ceiling, he climbs on the back of another boy, stacks pots or grinding mortars on top of each other, or sometimes knocks holes in the pottery containers. He then feeds monkeys or his village playmates. As shown in the painting, Yashoda tried to restrain him by tying cords to a heavy grinding mortar. Hearing a loud crash, she found that he had dragged the mortar between two trees and felled them. In some versions, Krishna's action releases two men imprisoned in these trees. As always, Yashoda appears to scold him, but like the other village women, is disarmed by his charms.

The miniature painting measures 18.4 x 12.7 centimeters, and is dated to 1810 C.E. It belongs to the Pahari style of the Himalayan foothills, a courtly style of the Rajput kings that flourished from the 17th to the 19th century. The painting shows many details of village life, though more ornate and idealized than in reality. Attributes such as affection shown to children, implements and scenes of daily life and homes, and traditional dress are portrayed in the painted space.

"Krishna, the Butter Thief, is tied to an upturned mortar to prevent him from stealing more curds," Set 40, Bharat Kala Bhavan III: Pahari Paintings Repository: Uttar Pradesh, Varanasi (Banaras), Banaras Hindu University, Bharat Kala Bhavan, BKB #372, Rights Photo: © Asian Art Archives, University of Michigan. Annotated by Susan Douglass.

Hobby Horse [Painting]

This oil on canvas painting by an unknown American folk artist was painted around 1840. It depicts two siblings at play. While their mother is absent from the picture, she presided over the "private sphere" of the home as prescribed by the ideology of "separate spheres" that defined everyday life in 19th-century America. Charged with raising boys to be citizens (and girls to be wives and mothers of citizens), it was mothers' moral duty to oversee the development of their children's "good character." As a result, sons under the age of 6 inhabited the domestic sphere along with their sisters where they were dressed in the same loose-fitting pantaloons, dresses, and petticoats.

Although both girls and boys both donned silk, satin, and velvet dresses, there were differences in their apparel and activities. Young boys were distinguishable from girls by their hairstyle (boys were more likely to wear side parts) and hats. Boys also engaged in different play activities: it was considered indecent for girls to straddle a rocking horse. Rocking on the "hobby horse" enabled boys like this youngster to practice the balancing ability he would need in order to ride a real horse as he took his place in the "public sphere." Riding the rocking horse and brandishing a whip also provided boys with the opportunity to practice the skills and sensibilities of masculinity—independence, mastery, confidence, control, courage, and dominance. The boy's placement at the center of the painting and protectively above and in front of his older sister, also prescribed his position in the Victorian gender hierarchy where he would perform manliness through initiative, competition, forcefulness, and rationality.

Compare this work with images of children in other folk art paintings. How else are girls and boys represented?

The Hobby Horse c. 1840. National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, USA. Annotated by Miriam Forman-Brunell.

Pocahontas (Matoaka) 1595-1617 [Print]

Pocahontas, a legendary figure in American history, was the daughter of a powerful 17th-century Powhatan chief. Allegedly seeking retribution for the murder of two tribesmen by the English, Powhatans captured John Smith, one of the founders of Jamestown, Virginia, an English settlement established in 1607. According to Smith's account, Pocahontas (whose real name was Matoaka) prevented the execution by her father. Continued cultural conflict led the English to capture and ransom Pocahontas six years later. During her captivity, she converted to Christianity and subsequently, changed her name to Rebecca, married John Rolfe (an English tobacco planter), bore a son, and traveled to London where she was presented as Lady Rebecca at the court of Queen Anne. While on board the ship bound for home in 1617 Pocahontas became ill and died.

As the daughter of a "chief" or "king," the English eulogized Pocahontas as a "princess" even though her status in Algonquian society is unclear. Although exoticized and erotocized to some degree, Pocahontas was further romanticized and sentimentalized. In representations such as Pierre Gustave Eugene Staal's printed in World-Noted Women (1858), Pocahontas was portrayed as more Caucasian and Christian than Native American. And by rejecting her "barbarous" girlhood and embracing piety, chastity, submission, and domesticity in Victorian children's stories, Pocahontas modeled feminine civility for daughters of the "new" middle class.

Students might compare this version with Smith's text and others shaped by prevailing ideals about gender, race, and girlhood including the most recent by Disney.

Portrait Gallery, University of Texas Libraries, http://www.lib.utexas.edu/exhibits/portraits/index.php?img=313 (accessed November 2, 2009). Annotated by Miriam Forman-Brunell.