Facial expressions are one of the more important aspects of human communication. The face is responsible for communicating not only thoughts or ideas, but also emotions.

See the expression and emotion on their faces as these children listen attentively to some adult authority...perhaps a parent or teacher.

Tags:   emotion attentiveness expression facial communication children faces body language listening portrait

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This is a watercolor painting of a famous photograph by American photojournalist Dorothea Lange (1895-1965). Lange took this portrait photograph of Florence Owens Thompson (1903-1983) and her children during the 'Great Depression' in February, 1936 in Nipomo, California. Lange's photographic series of Florence Thompson and her children is widely recognized as the most popular social documentary photographs of all time.

Tags:   Great Depression Florence Owens Thompson Dorothea Lange Migrant Mother painting art photograph children poverty destitute portrait watercolor mother

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Alice Neel (1900-1984), one of the 20th century's most radical artists and a champion of social justice, painted this portrait in 1955. The two Puerto Rican boys are not like the cherubic innocents seen in many traditional portraits of children. They are nattily dressed like men, not boys, and come across as tough and streetwise. While they are Hispanic, Neel neither plays down nor stereotypes this element...the details of the urban landscape are clearly rendered here. Neighborhood residents linger and chat on a stoop, advertising posters peel off the wall of a corner shop, and a green graffiti tag reading 'Felipe' is clearly visible. While many portraits have a universal or timeless quality to them, these two boys are distinctly of a specific time and place.

Seen and photographed at an exhibit of the artist's work entitled 'Alice Neel: People Come First' at the de Young Fine Arts Museum (FAMSF) in San Francisco, California.

Tags:   portrait art artist de Young Museum Alice Neel Puerto Rico hispanic People Come First Spanish Harlem New York City children boys neighborhood

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American artist Alice Neel's (1900-1984) portraits from her time in Cuba show the marginalized local community in whom she would maintain a lifelong interest. In 'Mother and Child-Havana', that she painted in 1926, Neel used generous swathes of browns and pinks to depict a mother lovingly holding her child.

This original portrait by Neel was seen and photographed at an exhibit of her works entitled 'Alice Neel: People Come First' at the de Young Fine Arts Museum (FAMSF) in San Francisco, California.

Tags:   Alice Neel museum art artist portrait Cuba Mother and Child FAMSF San Francisco People Come First Havana

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In his classic 1957 children's book "Cat in The Hat", author Theodor Seuss "Ted" Geisel (1904-1991) perfectly described the frustration and loneliness millions of people of all ages felt after weeks of sheltering-in-place and social distancing. These were the words of one of the main characters in the story, Sarah 'Sally' Walden, that we can all relate to today.

"So we sat in the house
We did nothing at all.
So all we could do was to
Sit!
Sit!
Sit!
Sit!
And, we did not like it.
Not one little bit".
____________________________________
by Jan Devereux

Tags:   Cat in the Hat Dr. Seuss COVID-19 pandemic children Jan Devereux plush toy virus street book Theodor Geisel shelter-in-place Sarah 'Sally' Walden story author

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