Exploring the tender relationship through pencil - Mary Cassatt

Mary Stevenson Cassatt was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Pennsylvania but lived much of her life in Paris, France, where she first befriended Edgar Degas. This links in with my previous project where I used Degas as inspiration for drawing the human form. Cassatt often created images of the social and private lives of women, with particular emphasis on the intimate bonds between mother and child which forms my inspiration for my project. Cassatt's popular reputation is formed around her extensive series of tenderly observed yet unsentimental paintings and prints. The idea of being sentimental and unsentimental will be important in this project for me. In contrast to Cassatt, I aim to base my project around my sister and her child aswell as looking at old photographs of my mother and her children as well as my grandparent. Resultantly, sentiment plays an important role in this project as all of the drawings which I hope to draw will have a personal meaning to myself.i hope to portray the mothers and strong women, powerhouses. The concept of feminism may play an important part and inspiration may be taken from Cassatt who was a strong feminist in her time. 

To portray my inspiration from the historic artist who is Mary Cassatt, I have constructed an A1 artist research page with a watercolour background wash and one of my own pencil drawings positioned on the page. 

I have annotated the page which includes information about how her technique and paintings have influenced me and where the artist originated from. My first response to her work can be seen inter- grated within the page which shows my nan holding my sister when she was a baby. 

This drawing has been completed in graphite pencil in the style of Cassatt. I have focused more on line and form rather than tone and shadow which creates a sketchy feel. Cassatt' drawings are simple however they still manage to capture the tender moments shared between a mother and child. This is my aim when I draw these pictures. Although simple and sketchy, I still want to be able to capture the emotion contained within them. I have drawn this image from an old photograph. I like the usage of negative space within the image between the two heads. There is a tender loving bond which hangs in the air between the two figures, this is what gives the image such an emotional feel. I have added in tone only to the hair and to the jacket to distinguish between black and white. I love the composition of this drawing, the way in which the gaze of the woman meets that of the baby is beautiful. The focus of only one eye shares the important moment where the newborn baby opens its eyes for the first time and then closes them again due to lack of energy. Therfore this is an important moment to capture. 

Although, Cassatt tends to drawn her sketches using dry point, I will drawn mine in graphite pencil and charcoal.  I will take inspiration from her technique of not drawing the whole image and leaving it looking 'unfinished' into my project as I like this idea. It frames the drawing in an unusual and beautiful way.

To take this further I would like to draw on a larger scale using charcoal or graphite but still taking her sketchy technique foreward. I also like the idea of drawing mother and child through generations. For example drawing my grandmother which her child, my mother with her child and my sister with her child.

The Meaning of 'Mother and Child'

To start my project of 'Mother and Child', I decided to research its meaning.
I produced an A1 page for this idea and also produced an A4 drawing of my sister and her child just after he was born.

I researched various artist on the internet and produced a timeline of the origin of its meaning. 'Mothers' are women who perform the role of bearing some relation to their children. these children may or may not be their biological offspring. Historically, the role of a women has been confined to the sole primary care-giver of providing and looking after the children. It was the men who went out to hunt and the men who worked to earn an income. In many cultures this has been the same for century's. However, there has been a shift In these gender roles, specifically in the westernised world where more and more women and embarking on a career and having children later in life.

Throughout history mothers and their children have been the subject of artistic works, such as paintings, sculptures and writings. I have concentrated my analysis on the Byzantine era and the period of High Renaissance. Many images of 'mother and child' throughout history have been Christian representations of the virgin Mary and her son Jesus, the son of God. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. These images are often referred to as 'the Madonna', which from Italian translates to 'My Lady'. Strictly speaking, the term 'Madonna' should be used exclusively for Italian works, but has become applied much more widely and is often alternatively referred to a the 'Virgin'. The Madonna was meant to remind people of the theological concept which places such a high value upon purity and virginity. This concept is also represented by the colour of her clothing which is nearly always ultramarine Blue. This will be analysed in detail later.

 

The earliest images from the Early Christian Church of the 'Madonna and Child' have been found in the Catacombs of Rome. One such image is pictured below:

From here, my analysis of the historic lines of mother and child jumps to the Byzantine era. In this era, paintings were not supposed to be realistic, but rather were supposed to remind the viewer of the theological concept as mentioned above and the fact that the baby Jesus was both fully God and fully human. Such an example from this era can be pictured below:

The Byzantine Madonna and child was often a simple representation. These paintings did not have accurate anatomical features. the artists chose to paint in this style because were not made for the purpose of drawing attention but rather for the emphasis of the theological concept hidden behind the image. Analysing these paintings, there is a lack of depth. The baby Jesus just appears to be floating in the arms of Mary. Jesus is also depicted as having the features and proportions of an adult, but the overall body size of a child. This again was to make people understand the theological concept that Jesus was both fully God and fully human.

From this period I will jump to the Renaissance era which is the period I wish to focus on in my project. This is because for the fist time, the human body was painted to look as if it actually took up space and had physical mass in the world it was painted in. This is an important concept for me because I wish to paint and drawn images of the mother and child in a very realistic context. Renaissance artists had the tendency to use much more vivid colours when painting. In contrast to the byzantine artists who though that realism and specific details was unnecessary and distracting, Renaissance artist on the other hand believed that there was beauty in realism.

Botticelli, Raphael and Sassoferrato  are examples of famous Renaissance artists who believed in making their paintings realistically beautiful. I will take inspiration from these artists and from the era in which they painted which I want to be evident in my portfolio of work.  This is an example of Raphael's work.

 This is an example of Botticelli's work.

 This is an example of Sassoferrato's work.

Notice that all three of these Renaissance artists portray the baby Jesus as a baby rather than a miniature adult as in the Byzantine era. Furthermore, notice the emphasis on colour. Notice how the Virgin Mary is always portrayed in blue, a symbol of purity and virginity. The baby Jesus is nearly always show enshrouded in white, which is a symbol of the virgin birth and holiness. Each of these paintings are exceptionally realistic. Proportions are perfect and the execution of the fabric has been perfected. the emphasis on light and dark is also taken into account which again serves to add to the paintings realism and contextual meaning.

Although this is only a brief historic overview of the origin of mother and child, I have come to appreciate the religious emphasis that has been placed on the subject over time. This is something I will take into account when producing my own responses to artists.

One such response can be seen below. Notice how I have also included the white and blue fabric and placed emphasis on the realism of the child.