"M is for the million things she gave me . . . "

The second Sunday in May honors all mothers. Let your Mom know how much you appreciate her.

Motherhood has always inspired artists, and here are two different interpretations by Hugo Robus and Frances Foy from the Smithsonian American Art Museum's collection.

Robus created a modern interpretation of an age-old theme, an open composition in which the mother arches protectively over her infant. In the spaces defined by the mother's arms and torso and her child's tiny hands, Robus traces the double oval of the infinity symbol.

This sculpture is also featured in Scenes of American Life: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, on view at the Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Connecticut, through May 28.

Source: Virginia Mecklenburg. Scenes from American Life: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (exhibition text, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1999).

Pictured top: Hugo Robus, 1885–1964, One and Another, 1934, bronze on wood base, 28 3/4 x 43 7/8 x 23 3/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation.

Pictured bottom: Frances Foy, 1890–1963, Child Playing, 1934, oil on fiberboard, 37 7/8 x 42 1/8 in., Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor.