Philadelphia’s art scene is celebrating Mother’s Day with a variety of exhibits showcasing the bond between mothers and their children. From photography to sculpture and paintings, these exhibits highlight the beauty, love, and challenges of motherhood.
Celebrating Motherhood in Art
Renoir sculpted “Mother and Child,” which depicts his wife nursing their firstborn son, and a statuette of ancient Egyptian god Isis nursing her son Horus.
The Barnes Foundation features contemporary South African artists, Sue Williamson and Lebohang Kganye, in “Tell Me What You Remember” exhibit. Williamson’s photo series, “All Our Mothers,” depicts revolutionary women who resisted police and marched in demonstrations against apartheid. Impressionist darling Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s paintings, “Writing Lesson” and “Mussel-Fishers at Berneval,” capture mother-child relationships.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s exhibit, “House of Photographs: The Kasakoff-Adams Collection,” showcases Diane Arbus’s photograph, “A Young Brooklyn Family Going for a Sunday Outing, N.Y.C.” The photo captures a young mother, Marylin Dauria, and her high school sweetheart, Richard.
The museum’s upcoming exhibit, “The Artist’s Mother: Whistler & Philadelphia,” examines James Abbott McNeill Whistler’s famous portrait of his mother.
Woodmere Art Museum’s “Kidding Around: Children in Art from Woodmere’s Collection” features a 19th-century Renaissance-style portrait, “The First Born” by French painter Gustave Doyen. Arthur B. Carles’ painting, “Portrait of Mrs. Carles and Sara,” depicts his mother and sister working together. The museum also has early 1900 murals by Violet Oakley, including “Man and Science” and “The Child and Tradition,” both featuring Oakley’s mother as a model.
The African American Museum in Philadelphia’s exhibit, “Rising Sun: Artists in an Uncertain America,” features separate works from two artists, mother and son, Deborah Willis and Hank Willis Thomas. Willis welcomes visitors with “Facing the Rising Sun, 2022,” a video work accompanied by a wall of historical photographs. Thomas’ is one of the authors of the “Question Bridge: Black Males, 2012,” a five-channel video installation.
Mural Arts addresses the issue of gun violence with two exhibits. “SHOT: We the Mothers,” showcases portraits of 51 mothers who lost their children to gun violence by photographer Kathy Shorr. The Apologues’ “A Mother’s Love” brings painted portraits of 55 families who lost children to shootings to the City Hall Courtyard.
Rodin Museum’s “Young Mother in the Grotto,” a part of The Gates of Hell, depicts a mother shielding her baby. The marble sculpture and the plaster cast are on view.
These exhibits remind us of the beauty and love that comes with being a mother.
