Child's Head

Even though he cultivated the portrait genre in greater numbers and with more personality in Spain, Serrano was already working on the genre during his American period through creations with a predominantly academic tone. This can be observed in Child's Head (Cabeza de niño), which, however, is not far removed from the works dedicated to children in the series Interpretations of the Portrait (Interpretaciones al retrato) when he was still in Spain, as he did not apply the expressionism seen in those portraits of adults. His features have been delicately captured, yet without the sentimentalism or conventionalism associated with the representation of a child, hence the crestfallen expression and the way in which his head surges from the plaster base which, at the same time, appears to allude to his infantile anatomy.