“Unidentified boy, seated on park bench, probably in Washington, D.C., holding book,” ca. 1920, by National Photo Company, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
I wonder if this isn’t a courtyard or garden corner of a college or university, rather than a park. Behind the boy are two adult coats, as well as books and files and at least one briefcase. Maybe he’s the son of a professor?
I love his wonderful sweaters and tweed shorts.
“Two boys sitting in a garden,” Orange, New Jersey, ca. 1860, cropped from a stereoscopic view, via Robert Dennis Collection of the New York Public Library.
The boys look a little as if they were sharing a secret joke.
They may have just been working in a garden plot of their own; there’s a cultivated space with a low rustic border on the lower right side. The boy on the right — with lilacs in his hat — is sitting in a small wheelbarrow, and there’s a child-size shovel or spade beside him. The other boy has a bunch of lilacs in his hand.
Lilacs, . . .
You are brighter than apples,
Sweeter than tulips,
You are the great flood of our souls
Bursting above the leaf-shapes of our hearts,
You are the smell of all Summers,
The love of wives and children,
The recollection of gardens of little children . . .— Amy Lowell, from “Lilacs“
Another picture from a file of bookmarked photos I have labeled “children made to pose in gardens.”
“Three children in sailor suits,” between 1859 and 1910, in the Pyrénées, by Eugène Trutat, via Bibliothèque de Toulouse Commons on flickr.
I think the little girl has just about had enough. I like the way she has her hands in her pockets.
There is another photo from the Bibliothèque that I believe shows the same three children, captioned “Enfants Servell, 2 novembre 1905,” here.
“Four (vier) children holding hands in front of a wooden fence,” Indonesia, ca. 1924, attributed to Klaas Kleiterp, via Rijks Museum of Amsterdam.
This image is from a file of bookmarked photos I have labeled “children made to pose in gardens.” I really like the large freeform lattice arbor around them.
Norwegians celebrating Norwegian National Day (May 17) in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1941 by standing high jumping over a pole set up between two deck chairs, via DEXTRA Photo Collection Commons on flickr.
