Untitled (boy on floor playing with toy gun) c. 1950

Editor: So, this is an untitled photograph, "boy on floor playing with toy gun," by Lucian and Mary Brown, part of the Harvard Art Museums collection. There's a boy with a toy gun. It feels… unsettling. What sociopolitical narrative do you see at play here? Curator: The image, with its depiction of a child and a toy gun, certainly invites a critical examination of gendered socialization and the normalization of violence. How does the context of the Cold War and perhaps even the Civil Rights Movement influence our reading of this seemingly innocuous image? Editor: That's interesting. I hadn't considered those historical contexts. Thanks! Curator: And what does it say about the intersection of childhood innocence and societal conditioning? Food for thought.