Woman on Chair

Calligraphic #2 Woman on Chair
H. Lyman Saÿen, c. 1916

At the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

Love this one for the color and abstracted shapes -- look at how wonky one chair-arm is from the other!

Circus Girl Resting

Circus Girl Resting 
Yasuo Kuniyoshi, 1924

As I mentioned in my last post, Japanese-American artist Yasuo Kuniyoshi did a lot of pictures of circus women. In contrast to the last post, this work focuses on the woman's body -- in relation to fruit and repose - instead of on a relationship between mother and son. If you look up Kuniyoshi's work, you should find some more active poses as well.

Strong Woman and Child

Strong Woman and Child 
Yasuo Kuniyoshi, 1925
At the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

So as usual, I seem to have posted ahead for a while and then let the updates lapse... sorry about that! This one, like the last few, is from the website of the SAAM in DC. I find it interesting for the 'realism' as well as for the less-warm relationship between mother and child -- they're there together, but not really "there" together. Kuniyoshi moved to America at a young age (according to wikipedia!) where he studied art. If you look up his work you'll find a lot of women circus performers... I may post a few more here soon.

Mother and Child - Romare Bearden

Mother and Child 
Romare Bearden, 1971
At the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

Romare is an African-American who worked a lot in collage. This piece looks both dry and delicate, and the collage allows for a lot of shading variations.

Mexican Family - Howard Cook

Mexican Family 
Howard Cook, 1940
At the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

Is it a religious picture? Not especially, but it's easy to interpret it that way, especially given the father's large hat. Thank you, Christian tradition, for making it easy to see God in every gent/ile family :-)

As a side note, the leaves in the background are truly superb.

Christ and Mother Mary (Turkey)

Christ and Mother Mary 
Nounoufar Boghosian, 1949 
At the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC 


This artist from Turkey has created a warm and soft picture of Mary. Click on the picture to look closer and you'll see that it's made out of fiber -- as well as an a plastic baby doll!

Mother and Child - Werner Drewes

Mother and Child 
Werner Drewes, 20th century
At the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

Looks like another woodcut style mother and child, this one with the baby almost falling out of her arms. Drewes moved from Germany to the U.S. and apparently taught in Brooklyn, & was part of the Bauhaus school. As a side note, if anyone reading this is knowledgeable about art history, let me know. I'd love to work with you!

Mother and Child - Seong Moy

Mother and Child 
Seong Moy, 1963
At the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

There's great movement in this one, and it looks almost like she's riding a bicycle, probably because of all the circles. The mother and child seem to almost be looking at each other, but not quite. Doing a quick search, I came across this oral history interview with the artist, who was born in Canton, China, and later moved to the U.S. Check it out!

Asian Mother and Child - by Helen Hyde

from Mother and Child
Helen Hyde, 1897
At the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

In a recent blog post, Jana J. Monji discusses a recent exhibit at the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, California, which highlights the artistic perceptions of Asia on the part of Hyde and other western women in the early 20th century. Monji notes:   

While we’ve often seen how the white male represented the Orient. . . the Orient was a much different place for the women who went to East Asia. Instead of seeing the geisha and the concubines of the Yoshiwara district. . . we see romanticized landscapes that seem ready for a storybook and scenes of domesticity: a mother and child. Helen Hyde was the first of four female Western artists who lived in Japan. In Tokyo in the 1920s, Bertha Lum, Elizabeth Keith and Lilian Miller joined Hyde. . . 

I'll have to check these artists out at some point -- & let me know if you have any favorite artists from or working in Asia!

Mother and child - Weir

from Mother and Child no. 1 
J. Allen Weir, ca 1890
At the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC


Looks like a pen-and-ink sketch, one which puts the mother completely as the backdrop to her own volumes of clothes and the baby nursing. From the sharp angles, it looks like a paeceful and tired night.