Motherhood reflected in art

Renowned photographer Gertrude Kåsebier used textured papers to photograph her emotionally complex images of mothers, such as "The Adoration," which was created in the early part of the 20th Century. With more than 175 works, the University Gallery at Old College holds the largest collegiate collection of Kåsebier's photographs.

3:01 p.m., May 3, 2005--Western art is a reflection of the wide-ranging experiences of motherhood from joy, tenderness and playfulness to grief, sorrow and hardship. “The power of images of motherhood lies in their universality,” according to Janis Tomlinson, director of the University of Delaware Museums and professor of art history.

“Images of mothers have long been a staple in Western art,” Tomlinson says. “In Roman times, a mother with children, known as ‘Caritas’ or charity, was a common personification of the giving mother figure in paintings and sculpture. Later, ‘charity’ became a quality invested in the Virgin Mary, who was seen as an intercessor for the faithful and as a widely venerated Christian figure and mother.

“Mary was portrayed differently throughout the ages,” Tomlinson says. In the Middle Ages, she was often portrayed as the elegant Queen of Heaven; during the Renaissance, she began to appear in domestic settings or in verdant fields, playing with her child.”

“The imagery of motherhood became increasingly secularized during the 18th Century,” Tomlinson says. “Happy and virtuous women delighting in maternal duties were a reflection of the writings of Jean Jacques Rousseau.

“From the 19th Century on,” Tomlinson says, “artists began to explore all facets of human existences and motherhood. Such an artist was Francisco Goya, who painted valiant mothers struggling to save their children from the ravages of war.”

Interactions of mothers and children in daily life were a favorite subject for many Impressionists, Tomlinson says, while Victorian artists explored the plights of those who strayed from the virtuous path of motherhood.

"By the early 20th Century, women artists, including Mary Cassatt and Gertrude Kåsebeir, elevated the image of mother and child as a central theme of their work," Tomlinson says.

Article by Sue Moncure

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