Mother and Child

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Romare Bearden, Mother and Child, 1971, collage on paperboard, 27 ¹⁄₂ x 18 ³⁄₈ in. (69.8 x 46.7 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Edith S. and Arthur J. Levin, 2005.5.3

Artwork Details

Title: Mother and Child
Artist: Romare Bearden
Date: 1971
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 27 ¹⁄₂ x 18 ³⁄₈ in. (69.8 x 46.7 cm)
Credit Line: Bequest of Edith S. and Arthur J. Levin
Mediums Description: collage on paperboard
Subjects: Abstract
Figure group — family — mother and child
Object Number: 2005.5.3
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2005.5.3

Artwork Description

In July 1963, a month before Martin Luther King’s historic march on Washington, Bearden and eleven other artists formed a group called Spiral to discuss how they could contribute to the civil rights movement. The moment was cathartic for Bearden, and he began making collages based on memories of black life in Pittsburgh, the rural south, and Harlem. He needed, he said, “to redefine the image of man in terms of the Negro experience.” Although the composition of Mother and Child echoes Renaissance paintings of the Madonna, Bearden configured the mother’s face as part modern woman and part Ife mask.

Modern Masters: Midcentury Abstraction from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2008