Mother and Child

African scarification marks, like those seen on this mother, have been cited as a source for Picasso’s early forceful striations on faces. In 1906-07, he began depicting women with complex and contradictory appearances. Picasso's exploration of female form has a psychological depth that perhaps reflects his self-proclaimed attitude toward women as "either goddesses or doormats."

Wood, brass tacks

25 7/8 x 8 3/4 x 10 5/8 in. (65.7 x 22.2 x 27 cm)

Gift of Katherine White and the Boeing Company

81.17.234

Provenance: Collection of Jay C. Leff (1925-2000), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; sold to Katherine White (1929-1980), Seattle, Washington, 1961; bequeathed to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1981

Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistoryCleveland, Ohio, Cleveland Museum of Art, African Tribal Images: The Katherine White Reswick Collection, July 10 - Sept. 1, 1968 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania Museum, Oct. 10 - Dec. 1, 1968). Text by William Fagg. Cat. no. 84 (as Female Figure with Child).

Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, African Sculpture, organized by the International Exhibitions Foundation, Jan. 29 - Mar. 1, 1970 (Kansas City, Missouri, William Rockhill Neslon Gallery, Mar. 21 - Apr. 26, 1970; Brooklyn, New York, Brooklyn Museum, May 26 - June 21, 1970).

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Praise Poems: The Katherine White Collection, July 29 - Sept. 29, 1984 (Washington, D.C., National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Oct. 31, 1984 - Feb. 25, 1985; Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, Apr. 6 - May 19, 1985; Fort Worth, Texas, Kimbell Art Museum, Sept. 7 - Nov. 25, 1985; Kansas City, Missouri, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Mar. 8 - Apr. 20, 1986). Text by Pamela McClusky. Cat. no. 17, pp. 42-43, reproduced (as Mother and child figure).

New Haven, Connecticut, Yale University Art Museum, Baule: African Art/Western Eyes, Aug. 30, 1997 - May 16, 1999.

Published ReferencesMcClusky, Pamela. African Art: From Crocodiles to Convertibles in the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1987; cat. no. 8, pp. 16-17, reproduced.

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