Exchange: Intimacy and Motherhood

Intimacy and Motherhood

This dark print shows a barefoot young girl dressed in a long white garment with an infant strapped to her back.

David Alfaro Siqueiros
Child Mother
lithograph on paper
39 3/4 in x 26 3/16 in (100.96 cm x 66.52 cm);41 15/16 in x 29 15/16 in (106.52 cm x 76.04 cm);30 3/8 in x 23 1/16 in (77.15 cm x 58.58 cm);39 3/4 in x 26 3/16 in (100.96 cm x 66.52 cm)
Museum Purchase

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Rip in paper repaired at lower center. Possible that paper was cut into rectangle from rondo shape. Some lines apper inscized; possibly used as a cartoon (?). Paper size: lh 17 7/10cm & rh 17 4/5cm x tw 15 9/10cm &bw 16cm.

Girlamo Parmigianno
Mother and Baby
brown chalk and brushed white tempera on beige laid paper
13 1/8 in. x 11 7/8 in. x 1 1/16 in. ( 33.3 cm x 30.2 cm x 2.7 cm )
Gift of Ruth W. and Clarence J. Boldt, Jr.

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Woman and son on a bus, both holding onto the seat. Woman is facing the camera, boy is facing his mother.

Louis Stettner
On a Westside Bus, Manhattan, NYC (Mother and Son on Bus)
gelatin silver print on paper
14 in. x 11 in. ( 35.56 cm x 27.94 cm )
Gift of Thomas Wilson '79 and Jill Garling '80

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Dotty Attie
Mother's Kisses: detail of kiss
lithograph with watercolor on B.F.K wove paper
6 in x 6 in (15.24 cm x 15.24 cm);7 1/4 in x 7 1/4 in x 3/4 in (18.4 cm x 18.4 cm x 1.9 cm);3 1/2 in x 3 1/2 in (8.9 cm x 8.9 cm)
Museum Purchase

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Two cubs lay beneath their mother, whose back is to the viewer, yet curves her head around to face outwards. Her eyes are golden, and look out towards the viewer. One cub looks up at its mother with closed eyes. The mother's white whiskers stand out against the otherwise warm, golden tones of the painting.

Konoshima Ōkoku
Tigress and Cubs
Hanging scroll, ink and color on silk
62 1/2 in x 28 1/16 in (158.75 cm x 71.28 cm);15 3/8 in x 39 in x 3 3/4 in (39.05 cm x 99.06 cm x 9.53 cm)
Museum purchase made possible by a gift from Helmut Stern

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Clay female figure seated on a stool, holding a nursing baby.

Maternity Figure
terracotta with white pigment
9 5/8 in x 4 1/2 in x 5 13/16 in (24.5 cm x 11.5 cm x 14.8 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Stewart Pinsof

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Detailed image of a woman's waist. A few fingers can be seen grasping the lower portion of her breast along the top of the print.

Dotty Attie
Mother's Kisses: detail of waist and arm
1982
lithograph, watercolor | B.F.K wove paper
Museum Purchase
1993/1.115.8

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Indian
South Indian (Karnatak) Female Figure of a "Mother Goddess" with Child in Her Left Arm & holding Trident in Right Hand
bronze
9 in x 4 in (22.86 cm x 10.16 cm)
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Leo S. Figiel and Dr. and Mrs. Steven J. Figiel

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Japanese
Mother and Child
woodblock print on paper
24 in x 18 in (60.96 cm x 45.72 cm)
Gift of Professor Walter M. and Nesta R. Spink

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Auguste Rodin
La Jeune Mère (The Young Mother)
bronze
15 1/8 in. x 13 7/16 in. x 9 1/2 in. ( 38.4 cm x 34.1 cm x 24.1 cm )
Bequest of Margaret Watson Parker

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This is a line drawing on white paper a ladder in the center, with the word "Mother" below it followed by the copyright symbol.

Jean-Michel Basquiat
Mother©
crayon on paper
24 in x 18 in (61 cm x 45.7 cm)
Gift of Arthur Cohen in honor of Ben and Yetta Cohen

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Andy Warhol
Madonna and Child
Polacolor on photographic paper
4 1/4 in. x 3 3/8 in. ( 10.8 cm x 8.6 cm )
Gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.

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The intimate relationship between a mother and her child is one that spans centuries and continents and is frequently represented in a culture's artworks. The drawings, paintings, photographs, and sculptures in this resource depict a combination of closeness, love, dependency, ferocity and longing.

The first work is a lithographic print on paper in the style of Social Realism (wiki art) created by the Mexican artist, David Alfaro Siquieros. It depicts an infant with its mother who is also a child. They cling to each other and look weary of their dark, shadowy surroundings. The mother does not have any physical objects, not even shoes, yet she looks as though she would ferociously defend the child strapped to her back in a papoose.

The next is chalk on paper from Italian master, Girlamo Parmigianno, drawn in the 1500s.