Lucia Mathilde von Gelder, Grandfather's Stories
German (1865 - 189)

A Young Girl in a High Chair
Juan Clara (Spanish, 1875 - 1957)
Bronze H: 22.2cm

A Young Girl Standing on a Stool
Juan Clara (Spanish, 1875 - 1957)
Bronze H: 33.6cm

The Birth of a New Century: Images of Children in Western Art
Building for Documents and Library
2000/4/2 - 2000/7/31

Year 2000 coincides with the Chinese Year of the Dragon, and in order to celebrate the new millennium and to welcome the new century, the National Palace Museum, Chi-mei Museum in Tainan and the Min Sheng Daily are sponsoring the joint exhibition The Birth of a New Century.  Focusing on the theme off youth and childhood, the exhibition brings together various images of children in painting and sculpture from the Chi-mei Museum's collection of western art.

The socio-cultural role of children in Western society has undergone great changes over the centuries, and in fact it was not until the Enlightenment in the late 18th century that people began to recognize in children an identity and individuality distinct from those of adults.  Children gradually came to be recognized as potent symbols of creativity, innocence, and purity, and the notion of childhood played a major role in the formation of modern psychology and philosophy.  The developing understanding of childhood also had a significant influence on art and literature.  In order to reflect on the various facets of childhood, and their evolution through the centuries, the exposition has been divided into four thematic sections: family, play, quiet time, and work.

Children are an expression of joy and innocence and a symbol of unlimited hope fore the futre, and therefore seem an appropriate metaphor for the coming century.