Confidence
Edward Wallowitch American
Not on view
The children in Edward Wallowitch’s photographs are not particularly playful; he does not coax them into charming tableaux, trivialize their concerns, or capture them unawares. Instead, Wallowitch’s young subjects confront the camera with a full range of adult emotion, collaborating with the photographer in portraits which would define his career. He began taking photographs while still a child himself, and at eighteen became the youngest participant in Edward Steichen’s 1955 exhibition The Family of Man at the Museum of Modern Art. Around the same time, he created this sensitive portrait, aptly titled Confidence. Leaning against a wall, a young girl appraises the lens with a wry grin. Wallowitch meets her gaze with evident empathy, crafting a childhood portrait unencumbered by cliché.
