Editing Mother (section)

==In art==
[[File:William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Charity (1878).jpg|thumb|upright|''Charity'', by French painter [[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]], 1878]]
[[File:Gallen Kallela Lemminkainens Mother.jpg|upright|thumb|''[[Lemminkäinen's Mother]]'', an 1897 painting by [[Akseli Gallen-Kallela]]: She is shown having just gathered her son's [[Lemminkäinen]]'s broken body from the dark river.]]
[[File:Brooklyn Museum 50.124 Mother with Child Lupingu lwa Cibola (3).jpg|upright|thumb|This Congolese figure was used to protect women who had lost successive children to miscarriages or infant death and is considered one of the great masterpieces of African Art. [[Brooklyn Museum]].]]

Throughout history, mothers have been depicted in a variety of art works, including paintings, sculptures and written texts, that have helped define the cultural meaning of 'mother', as well as ideals and [[taboo]]s of motherhood.

Fourth century grave reliefs on the island of [[Rhodes]] depicted mothers with children.<ref>{{Google books |plainurl= |id=3fnsWhZkq74C |page=234 |title=Women, Crime and Punishment in Ancient Law and Society }}</ref>

Paintings of mothers with their children have a long tradition in [[France]]. In the 18th century, these works embodied the Enlightenment's preoccupation with strong family bonds and the relation between mothers and children.<ref>{{Google books |plainurl= |title=Intimate Encounters: Love and Domesticity in Eighteenth-century France |id=DQ_8S3iJPa4C |page=87 }}</ref>

At the end of the nineteenth century, [[Mary Cassatt]] was a painter well known for her portraits of mothers.

American poet, essayist and feminist [[Adrienne Rich]] has noted "the disjuncture between motherhood as [[Patriarchy|patriarchal]] institution and motherhood as complexly and variously lived experience".<ref name=":03">{{Cite journal |last=Heath |first=Joanne |date=December 2013 |title=Negotiating the Maternal: Motherhood, Feminism, and Art |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00043249.2013.10792867 |journal=Art Journal |volume=72 |issue=4 |pages=84–86 |doi=10.1080/00043249.2013.10792867 |s2cid=143550487 |issn=0004-3249}}</ref> The vast majority of works depicting motherhood in western art history have been created by artists who are men, with very few having been created by women or mothers themselves, and these often focus on the "institution of motherhood" rather than diverse lived experiences.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Epp Buller |first=Rachel |title=Reconciling Art and Mothering |publisher=Ashgate Publishing Company |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4094-2613-4 |editor-last=Epp Buller |editor-first=Rachel |location=Burlington, VT, USA |pages=1–12 |language=English |chapter=Introduction}}</ref> At the same time, art concerning motherhood has been historically marginalized within the [[feminist art movement]], though this is changing with an increasing number of [[Feminism|feminist]] publications addressing this topic.<ref name=":22">{{Cite book |last1=Chernick |first1=Myrel |title=The M Word: Real Mothers in Contemporary Art |last2=Klein |first2=Jennie |publisher=Demeter Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-9866671-2-1 |editor-last=Chernick |editor-first=Myrel |location=Bradford, Canada |pages=1–17 |language=English |chapter=Introduction |editor-last2=Klein |editor-first2=Jennie}}</ref>

The institution of motherhood in western art is often depicted through "the myth of the all-loving, all-forgiving and all-sacrificing mother" and related ideals.<ref name=":12"/> Examples include works featuring the [[Mary, mother of Jesus|Virgin Mary]], an archetypal mother and a key historical basis for depictions of mothers in western art from the [[Renaissance|European Renaissance]] onwards.<ref>{{Cite book |first=Shari |last=Thurer |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/780801259 |title=The myths of motherhood : how culture reinvents the good mother |date=1995 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=0-14-024683-5 |oclc=780801259}}</ref> Mothers depicted in dominant art works are also primarily white, heterosexual, middle class and young or attractive.<ref name=":03"/>

These ideals of motherhood have been challenged by artists with lived experience as mothers. An example in western contemporary art is [[Mary Kelly (artist)|Mary Kelly's]] ''Post-Partum Document''. Bypassing typical themes of tenderness or nostalgia, this work documents in extensive detail the challenges, complexities and day-to-day realities of the mother-child relationship.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mary Kelly, Post-Partum Document (article) |url=https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/conceptual-and-performance-art/conceptual-performance/a/mary-kelly-post-partum-document |access-date=2022-03-03 |website=Khan Academy |language=en |archive-date=2022-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303233638/https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/conceptual-and-performance-art/conceptual-performance/a/mary-kelly-post-partum-document |url-status=live }}</ref> Other artists have addressed similar aspects of motherhood that fall outside dominant ideals, including maternal ambivalence, desire, and the pursuit of self-fulfillment.<ref name=":22"/>   While the ideal of maternal self-sacrifice and the 'good mother' forms an important part of many works of art relating to the [[The Holocaust|Holocaust]], other women's Holocaust and post-Holocaust art has engaged more deeply with mothers' trauma, taboos, and the experiences of second and third-generation Holocaust survivors.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mor Presiado |date=2018 |title=The Expansion and Destruction of the Symbol of the Victimized and Self-Sacrificing Mother in Women's Holocaust Art |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2979/nashim.33.1.09 |journal=Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender Issues |issue=33 |pages=177 |doi=10.2979/nashim.33.1.09 |s2cid=165961732 |issn=0793-8934}}</ref> For example, works by first-generation survivors of the Holocaust such as [[Ella Liebermann-Shiber]] and [[Shoshana Neuman]] have depicted mothers abandoning and suffocating their children in an effort to stay alive themselves.

Increasingly diverse representations of motherhood can be found in contemporary works of art. [[Catherine Opie|Catherine Opie's]] self-portrait photographs, including of herself nursing, reference the existing Virgin Mary archetype while subverting its norms around sexuality by centering her identity as a lesbian.<ref name=":03"/> Rather than attempting to make her experience of motherhood fit into existing norms, Opie's photographs are "non-traditional and non-apologetic representations".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barnett |first=Erin |title=Reconciling Art and Mothering |publisher=Ashgate Publishing Company |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4094-2613-4 |editor-last=Epp Buller |editor-first=Rachel |location=Burlington, VT, USA |pages=85–93 |language=English |chapter=Lesbian, Pervert, Mother: Catherine Opie's Photographic Transgressions}}</ref>

In her 2020 photography collection, [[Solana Cain]] explored the meaning of joy for Black mothers to challenge the lack of images in mainstream media that represent Black motherhood.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Quammie |first=Bee |date=May 5, 2021 |title=The tenderness and tenacity of Black motherhood |url=https://www.macleans.ca/society/the-tenderness-and-tenacity-of-black-motherhood/ |access-date=Mar 3, 2022 |website=Maclean's |archive-date=March 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303230643/https://www.macleans.ca/society/the-tenderness-and-tenacity-of-black-motherhood/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Renee Cox|Renee Cox's]] ''Yo Mama'' series of nude self-portraits challenge historical representations of both the black female body and of [[Mammy stereotype|maternity and slavery]] in the US, the latter of which is often characterized by the "extreme passivity and devalued love" typically associated with motherhood.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Liss |first=Andrea |title=Reconciling Art and Mothering |publisher=Ashgate Publishing Company |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4094-2613-4 |editor-last=Epp Buller |editor-first=Rachel |location=Burlington, VT, USA |pages=71–84 |language=English |chapter=Making the Black Maternal Visible: Renee Cox's Family Portraits}}</ref>