Lucia’s Lunch Box

Charles painted this lunch box for Lucia when she was around five years old, the year she would have started her education as a kindergartner. He decorated its border with hearts and stars drawn in a style evoking American folk art. Below Lucia’s name, her father depicted a small monkey surrounded by greenery and an angel with a birthday cake. He sometimes referred to Lucia as an “angel” in letters written while he was away working. Charles admired the simplicity, joy, and lack of self-consciousness of childhood, which he came to believe should be reintegrated into the everyday life of adults. Lucia treasured and made a point of saving this small artifact.