Comparative Study

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My family always gives me a lot of support, especially my mother, who always guides me and encourages me. I feel she is not only my mother but also one of my friends. Sometimes we joke with each other, while sometimes we can argue freely on the matters of which we have differ-ent view. I also heard some stories from my friends about their family and their mothers, which are quite different from mine. These experi-ences make me interested in exploring the relationship between mother and child. Therefore I’m going to analyze and compare the artworks created by the artists of different countries with mother and child motif.

I chose three artworks to study: “Emmie and her Child” by American painter Mary Cassatt, “Mother and Child” (1953) by British sculptor Henry Moore and “My Mother” by Chinese painter Zhang Xiaogang.

I’m interested in the way Cassatt masters the use of lighting, colors and tone to portray a warm, intimate mother and child relationship in her artwork. She likes to experiment with different mediums and often challenges herself by using different materials to create artworks. Therefore, by studying her artworks, I can explore possible mediums that can be used to express the same theme, and better understand how lighting, color, composition and other formal qualities can be used to highlight the message I want to deliver. Among her artworks, “Emmie and her Child” is one of my favorite, because it shows an intimate and warm rela-tionship between the subjects and also creates a nostalgic feeling which makes me associate to the time when I was a little girl.

“Mother and Child” (1953) by Moore is different from the way he pre-sents the relationship between mother and child normally, which is warm, caring and relaxed, whereas this one creates a violent, unease and fearful mood. Usually, Moore’s mother figures are shown in a large, rounded form that creates a protective and stable sense. However in this sculpture, the mother figure is holding the neck of the child and pushing it away from her. This unconventional sculpture makes me interested in

the story behind it. After I explored the theme of mother and child, I realized that the relationship be-tween mother and child is not always warm and happy. In fact a lot of conflicts will happen between the two. By looking at this sculpture, I can study how Moore presents the cold relationship between mother and child.

Zhan Xiaogang’s mother and child motif artwork gives me a chance to explore how Chinese people ex-press the relationship between mothers and children. Zhang has experienced China’s most turbulent pe-

riod, which is in the Culture Revolution, when political strug-gle made families fallen apart. Zhang had to separate from her mother at that time, and the struggle caused his mother get schizophrenia. I often hear the hor-rible and tragic stories at the Cultural Revolution from my family members. It makes me inter-ested in how Zhang would present family relationship after experiencing miserable life. I chose to look at Zhang’s “My Mother”, because the artwork is like a mirror that directly reflects how Zhang sees his mother. Studying the artwork can also allow me to understand how culture and era affects the relationship between mother and child.

The above artworks have the same theme but are presented in quite different way. They were created in different period and under different culture. Therefore, by comparing the three art-works, I can gain an insight on how different artists explore the theme of mother and child rela-tionship.

Henry Moore, Mother and Child, 1953, cast c.1954, Bronze on a wood base, 51 x 23 x 23.5 cm, Presented by the Friends of the Tate Gallery 1960

Zhang Xiaogang, My Mother, 2012, Oil on canvas , 2012, oil on canvas, 140 x 220 cm, Courtesy Pace Gallery, Roland P. Murdock Collection

Mary Casatt, Emmie and her Child, 1889, Oil on canvas, 90.17 x 64.5 cm, Wichita Art Museum

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Culture Context AnalysisEmmie and her Child by Mary Cassatt

This is an oil painting created by Mary Cassatt, an American painter and printmaker, who liked to use soft light and tone to express a warm and intimate relationship between mother and child.

Led by a powerful government after the Civil War, American society had largely changed. According to H. Barbara Weinberg and Carrie Rebora Barratt from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, half of American artists decided to record the change of their everyday life, capture the “temperament of their respective eras” and defined the “character of people as individuals, citi-zens, and members of ever-widening communities” through their artworks (H. Barbara Weinberg, Carrie Rebora Barratt, American Scenes of Everyday Life, 1840–1910, Sep 2009). At that time, many artworks recorded the life of people in the mid-dle class or lower class. They were often reflected through portraits, in which “family” was one of the subjects the artists often explored.

Another phenomenon after American Civil War was that, women’s responsibility was commonly depicted by American artists. As many men were killed or injured in the war, women became important to family and society. In late nineteenth-century “the lives of women as devoted mothers, dedicated household managers, participants in genteel feminine rituals, and resolute keep-ers of culture” became a common subject of the artists’ works. (American Scenes of Everyday Life, 1840–1910, Sep 2009)

When Cassatt traveled to Spain to study art, she acquainted with the works of Diego Velazquez, a Spanish artist in seventeenth-century, who painted genre pictures or scenes of everyday life. According to the book, “What Makes A Cassatt A Cassatt?” by

Richard Mühlberger from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Cassatt’s painting was inspired by works such as “The Waterseller of Seville” by the great seventeenth-century Spanish artist, Diego Velazquez. She learned from him how to show everyday scenes in a natural way”.

When Cassatt was exploring new way of painting in Paris in 1877, she was invited by Edgar Degas to join the group of Impressionism (Women of art history, 28 Oct 2013). Landscapes and intimate scenes of everyday middle-class life were the prevalent motif for the Impressionist artists. Cassatt was impressed by the use of bright tone and the splotches of colors to depict the subjects, and she began to apply the Impressionist’s idea into her own painting.

Cassatt was influenced by Degas greatly. Before she met him, she studied painting through copying the masterpieces in museums or galleries, and created paintings that met the aesthetic value of the Salon in Pairs, in which dark tone was often used to depict the subjects. However after joining the group of Impressionist, she stopped toning down the subjects like the paintings she studied in the Salon, but drew what she saw instead. She started to paint with a brighter color and a looser brush strokes. Mühlberger explained that, “instead of the deep, dark colors of the Spanish-style picture, Cassatt’s palette has become clear and bright.”

The artwork on the right, “Little Girl in a Blue Armchair” was one of her early paintings created under the influence of Edgars, when she began to paint in impres-sionistic style. The painting was created under the help and advices of Degas. However it was rejected by the Art Gallery of the American pavilion at the 1878 World's Fair. In a letter of Cassatt to Ambroise Vollard, she expressed her upset and annoyance, she noted that, “it was the portrait of a friend of M. Degas. I had done the child in the armchair and he found it good and advised me on the background and he even worked on it.” (Bullard 1972, p. 24.) (Mathews 1994, pp. 125-6.)

There are similarities shared in this painting with “Emmie and her Child”. They were both painted with the use of natural light, a rapid brushwork, splotches of colors, and a high-keyed palette, which were the signature characteristic of Impressionism. (American Impressionism, Oct 2004)

Cassatt produced a lot of portrait paintings. According to Weinberg, “like Degas, Cassatt was chiefly inter-ested in figure compositions.” Therefore she “remained committed to painting the figure, and emulated De-gas’s distinctive method of capturing scenes of contemporary urban life.” (Wichita Art Museum) The “scenes of women in domestic interiors” was the subject she often expressed in her works.

Cassatt was always enthusiastic to depict the bond between mother and child. The Met Museum explained that, her passion was due to the “prevailing cultural interest in child rearing” at that time in America. In 19th century, woman's worth was determined by how healthy, obedient and accomplished their children were, and this idea was heavily promoted in the literary works at that time. In addition, The museum also ex-plained that Cassatt loved to depict mother and child relationship was also because of “her affection for her nieces and nephews, and also her friends’ children.” Cassatt often invited her family member, friends or local woman to be the model of her paintings to capture the subtle relationships between people.

Perhaps Cassatt’s mother and child artworks were also influenced by Madonna and Child. According to the book “Mary Cassatt” by Ernestine Giesecke, “Mary studied Madonna and Child paintings. This helped her to paint her own pictures of mother caring for their small children.” Mühlberger explained that, “or maybe she was influenced by the painters of the Renaissance, who often depicted images of the Madonna and Child. Her goal, like her friend Degas’s, was to com-bine principles of old master painting with themes of modern life.” In the book “Mary Cassatt Reflection of Women’s lives”, in nineteenth-century Europe and America, the idealized motherhood was often portrayed through artworks. The paintings Madonna and Child were considered as the icon, of reflecting people’s respect towards the sanctity of motherhood.

Mary Cassatt, Emmie and her Child, 1889, Oil on canvas, 90.17 x 64.5 cm, Wichita Art Museum

Mary Cassatt, Little Girl in a Blue Armchair, 1878, Oil on canvas, 88  cm ×  128.5  cm, Na-tional Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

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Purpose/Function AnalysisEmmie and her Child by Mary Cassatt

During 1870s and 1880s, women in Paris were the subjects Cassatt often explored in her works. She was comfortable in painting the people around her, which including family, friends and their children. Around 1890s, she narrowed her theme to mother and child relationship. Under the influence of Impressionism and genre art, she often presented the scene of mothers’ nursing their children in her works. By exploring this

motif she wanted to reflect “her affection for her nieces and nephews and her friends’ children and her contempo-raries' concern with motherhood and child rearing” (The Metropolitan Museum of Art). Cassatt had neither mar-ried nor had a child, perhaps this was the reason why she had a special respect towards mothers. “As a woman without marriage and children, she always treated the mother and child with sacred solemnity.”(Oil Painting In-formation) Therefore Cassatt has a strong interest in the subject of mother and child, and a harmonic mood is always reflected through her works.

Cassatt’s passion towards mother and child emerged in 1880s after the death of her sister, when her brother and his young family arrived in Paris. Her little nephews and nieces had aroused her interest in depicting children. The kids provided a perfect opportunity for her to study and paint children.

The artist looked into this motif perhaps also because she wanted to show the value of women. At that time, women in America “were only valued for doing housework” and many people, including Cassatt’s family, “did not support her career [of being an artist] because it was not the norm” (Erika Frank, Mary Cassatt: Use of Color, 1

Aug 2014). Mancoff described that “the social changes that had resulted in the separation of the activities of men and women, confining women mostly to the domestic sphere [...] In The American Woman’s Home (1869), they defined ‘woman’s mission’ as one of ‘self-denial’ and ‘self-sacrificing labours’”, which means that women should regard taking care of family and domestic work as their destiny. Giesecke explained that “Cassatt wants to show the relationship of people in her art”, while mother and child motif could help her to “show the importance of women [as caregivers] in society.” According to Richard Donagrandi from The Art Institute of Chicago, Cassatt once stated that “she believed one of woman's purpose in life was to rear and raise the next generation.”

The subjects in Cassatt’s mother and child paintings were vividly and honestly depicted, because she didn’t want to “glamorize or sentimentalize her subjects; instead she wanted to depict the mothers as honest, clean-living, good-looking women.” (Jonathan5458, Mary Cassatt – Mother and Child – Part 2, 25 Mar 2014) Therefore in “Emmie and her Child”, even though the two subjects are not looking at each other, the audi-ence can still feel the strong bond between them, since the interaction between the two are natural and real.

Comparing the painting with Cassatt’s other artworks, such as “Breakfast in Bed”, we can see that the emotion and interaction between mother and child are also truthfully depicted. This oil painting por-trays the moment, when a woken mother is lying in her bed and embracing her daughter, who is enjoy-ing her breakfast. In both paintings, the mothers are grabbing their own wrist to prevent their children from falling down. Their protective hold and loving gaze contrasts with their children, whose attention are elsewhere outside of the canvas. The movement of the subjects are instinctive, that makes the paint-ing become powerfully emotional to the audience, and highlight the ease and comfort of the children in their mother’s hug. Donagrandi explained that, “the purpose of the adult in the painting is to offer a physical support to hold the child”. But besides so, Cassatt also wanted to portray the protective and caring role of mothers.

Cassatt often invited the people around her to help her with her painting. She didn’t employ models to help her with her painting, because they would pose self-consciously, as a result the relationship between mother and child wouldn’t be able to honestly depict. She always painted a mother with her baby, because she wanted to reflect the bond between a mother and her child has been existing since the child was born.

Mary Casatt, Breakfast in Bed, 1897, Oil on canvas, 65 x 73.6 cm, Huntington Library and Art Gallery

Mary Cassatt, Emmie and her Child, 1889, Oil on canvas, 90.17 x 64.5 cm, Wichita Art Museum

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Formal Quality AnalysisEmmie and her Child by Mary Cassatt

In this painting, one of the child’s feet was boldly painted in abstract strokes, in which it dissolves into the mother’s dress. In her other paintings, such as “Mother and Child” the child’s feet was also abstractly painted. According to the the book, “Mary Cassatt Painter of Modern Women” by Griselda Pollock, through doing so, Cassatt wanted to reflect that children are separate individual, however they also have a strong, inseparable bond with their mothers.

In many of her paintings, board strokes were avoided. Only the human subjects were painted in fine details. Their heads and limbs were smoothly blended, while the surround-ing was painted with a quick brush stroke, as if they were decomposing and fading away. This makes the background of the painting is only to set of the subjects, which allows the mother and child distinct from the surrounding, and draw audience’s attention to the facial expression and interaction between them. Thus Cassatt created a harmonic atmosphere between mother and child, and implied that in the fleeting life time, the bond between them is everlasting.

The interaction between the subjects was honestly depicted, which emphasized the warm and caring relationship between Emmie and her child, and at the same time resonate this intimate bond with the universal mothers and children. Such warm interaction between the

subjects encourages the audience more emotionally connected to the painting, making them associate their happy expe-riences with their family. Even though the subjects in the painting are not looking at each other, a strong bond between them is portrayed. This is done by the physical interaction between the two. In “Emmie and her Child”, the child softly touches its mother's chin with one hand, as if it is checking the presence of its mother. Its another hand is causally rest-ing on its mother’s wrist, reflecting the ease and relaxing of it, while the mother gently clasps her child's leg with one hand and grabs her own wrist with another hand. This portrays Emmie a protective image, which she is protecting the child from falling down from her knees. The gesture of the subjects creates a repetition and shows that the two are tightly holding each other. It thereby reflects the trusted and close connection between them. The gesture of them is done unconsciously. It is shown through the subjects’ calm and still facial expression. Mühlberger described that, “Cassatt’s paintings of maternal themes often focus on the position of hands, the angles of heads, and the cast of eyes that express the bond between a mother and her child.”

In another artwork by Cassatt, “Breakfast in Bed”, we can see again an emotionally appealed atmosphere is created by the carefully arranged gesture of the subjects. The sleepy mother and her prone position, loving gaze and protective hold contrasts with the curious child who is sitting upright. A de-scription to the artwork from The Huntington Library describes, “Cassatt evokes the subtle tensions implicit in the relationship of parent to child” through this contrast.

In “Emmie and her Child”, the subjects almost fill the whole canvas, which makes them to be the focus of the painting. The child is sitting comfortably on its mother’s knees, with its head leaning against its mother’s shoulder and gazing at something out of the canvas, while the mother is gazing at her child lovingly. Her happiness and her maternal love for her child is reflected on her expression. The direction the mother is looking at and the crease of her dress together work as leading line, which brings the audience to the focal point of the child’s relaxed and eased expres-sion. A pyramidal composition is used to make the audience’s attention first dropped onto the face of the subjects, thus reflects the child’s calmness in its mother’s hug. The composition of the painting also creates a pleasing atmosphere to the audience. The mother and child’s heads are very close to each other. Associat-ing with their long gaze, the close bond and mutual comfort between them is reflected, in which they have the same loving emotion towards each other and this emotion is everlasting.

The light source is from the top right. It gently falls on the face of the subjects, providing a tendering and calm mood. This allows people to see their tranquil expression clearly. It therefore highlights the strong bond between the mother and the child. The child’s face is brighter than the mother’s face, drawing the audience’s attention to the child’s comfortable expression at the first glance, and thus enhances the tranquil atmosphere. The circular shapes are used in this painting, which creates a soft, pleasing and gentle feeling. The child looks much softer than the mother, which creates a fragile feeling of the child. It also makes the child look ease in the hug of its mother.

A warm and bright tone is used to portray a pleasing and tranquil relationship between the mother and child. It also creates a soft feeling to the audi-ence. The child’s cloth is much brighter than its surroundings. In “Breakfast in Bed”, Cassatt also did so, in which the chid’s cloth is brighter than the white bed sheet. Thus making them is distinguishable from the environment. The color of the cloth reflects the light upwards onto the child’s face, which further draws the audience’s attention to its expression.

Cassatt used complementary colors, such as the combination of red and green to create depth. Green is a cold color, thereby making the objects looks further away. For example the pattern on the mother’s dress was colored in red and green was used for shadowing. In addition, the green color was de-saturated by mixing with warm color, which contrasts with the brightly painted reddish-yellow skin of the subjects. The red color was brighter and more saturated than the green, hence better attracts the audience’ attention to the subjects. The use of red created the painting with a warm tone, which emphasizes the loving, warm and harmonic atmosphere between the subjects.

Mary Cassatt, Mother and Child, c. 1900, Pastel, Art Institute of Chicago

Mary Cassatt, Emmie and her Child, 1889, Oil on canvas, 90.17 x 64.5 cm, Wichita Art Museum

Mary Casatt, Breakfast in Bed, 1897, Oil on canvas, 65 x 73.6 cm, Huntington Library and Art Gallery

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Culture Context AnalysisMother and Child, cast c.1954 by Henry Moore

This is a bronze sculpture created by Henry Moore, who often looks at the subject of mother and child. He is best known for his ab-stract reclining female figures. He admires the works of Constantin Brancusi, who is also well-known in simple and organic figures. Moore agrees with Brancusi that the “observation of nature is essential to artistic creation” (ARTSY, 2016). Pre-Columbian art, Toltec-Maya art, African art and Ancient Peruvian art provided him with great influence. This is significant because these artworks are inspired by living creatures and nature, and they are often presented through organic shapes.

Following several earlier miscarriages of Moore’s wife, Moore’s daughter, Mary was born in 1946, which was two years after the death of Moore's mother, whom Moore had a close relationship with. The experience provides Moore inspiration to focus on the relation-ship between mother and child.

This artwork was created after World War II, when Moore became fascinated with the subject of mother and child. The artist had seen people suffered in both World War I and World War II. In 1919, the year after the end of the first world war, he wrote a letter to his friend, pointing out that “the things I saw and experienced, the great bloodshed & the pain, the insufferable agony & depravity, the tears & the inhuman devilishness of the war, would, could never have been” (The Telegraph, 19 Aug 2016), which reflected his horror towards war. The English people had been suffered in hunger since World War I. Men and horses were stopped from farm works and sent away to war, resulted in the shortage of food supply. During World War II, he felt a moral responsibility of exploring the subject

of war. He became a war artist and produced a large amount of war drawings during that time, particularly, people in London who were suffering from war and hid-ing from bombing were his subjects. According to Artnet News, Moore pointed out that “he was deeply influenced by the wartime experience of living in London during the Blitz.” The terrible aftermath the war brought to people, together with Moore’s interest in the theme of mother and child, inspired him to explore the nurturing nature of mothers and their confrontation with the ravage of war. In addition, the works are more naturalistic and the part of human body can be easily recognized in this sculpture, which is different from his earlier works. Imogen Cornwall Jones, an art historian and educator, explained that “this more naturalistic style originated In The Shelter drawings and was more accessible than his abstracted biomorphism.”

After the war, family relationship and roles, especially women’s responsibility of rearing child was a common topic discussed in the society. This was due to people’s anxiety and concern of birth rate and the decrease of the number of nursery place. Women were strongly encouraged to stay at home for domestic works. Post-war anxiety was a common theme explored by British sculptors during 1950s. Perhaps this inspired Moore to not only looking at the warm and caring relationship be-tween mother and child, but continued to explored the theme in a negative way. Jones explained that, this sculpture “doesn’t suggest a nurturing relationship, but rather the submission of the mother to the aggressive needs of the child.” He also noted that, during the period, “psychoanalysis began to suggest more complex fam-ily and mother/child relationships, and during the 50s Moore responded with works that hint at a more unsettling interpretation.”

Other suggests that Moore was inspired by a relief on a black ware pot from Peru. According to Alice Correia from Tate museum, an art historian Alan Wilkinson pointed out that “this pot was included in Ernst Luhrmann's book Peru II, published in 1922, a copy of which Moore owned.” Moore was interested in ancient Peru-vian art. During 1920s, he constantly visited British Museum due to a large amount of works from South America was exhibited at that time, especially Peruvian Pottery.

Barbara Braun, art historian suggests the relief illustrates the story of Ai Aipec, the battle between a deity Ai Aipec (on the left) and a sea monster (on the right). The deity is holding a long serpent-like bird that is identified as “serpent belt”, while the sea monster is trying to swallow the serpent. In the book “Pre-Columbian Art and the Post-Columbian World”, Braun explains that “the serpent belt is an attribute of the deity Ai Aipec that asserts his mythic super-natural status”, while Moore “focused on the latter figure, who clutches the threatens to devour Ai Aipec’s serpent belt, and transformed it into a rather sinister version of the mother and child theme.”

There are some significant similarity between this sculpture by Moore and this relief. The serrated face of the mother’s figure is trans-formed from the sharp teeth of the sea monster. The lower jaw of the sea monster is similar with the hand of the mother, and the tongue of the monster can be suggested that it’s transformed into the breast of the mother. In terms of the child, the head of the serpent is very similar with the head of the child and both the child and the serpent are in tube shape.

The gesture of the subjects on the relief is very similar with the mother and child in Moore’s sculpture. The sea monster is threatening to swallow the serpent belt, while the mother is menacing the child from approaching her. Moore hence reflected that mothers often have more power over their children. They can control the deed of the child through their authority. The serpent belt is fighting against the sea monster, while the child in Moore’s sculpture is trying to bite the breast of its mother. Therefore Moore implies that children some-times are so demanding that the parents cannot deal with them.

In Moore’s sketches, the mother’s body is facing towards the front, which further proves that he was inspired by this relief, since the mon-ster in the relief is facing the front. By making the mother facing her child, with the combination of the jagged face, the tension between the two is increased and the sense of threat from mother to her child is better highlighted. Correia described that, “the sense of menace evoked by these sharp, teeth-like forms is heightened by four more raised ridges on the right side of her face.” (Alice Correia, Tate, Nov 2013)

Chimú Blackware Pot c.800–1300 AD, Peru, Museum fur Volkerkunde,

Henry Moore, Mother and Child, 1953, cast c.1954, Bronze on a wood base, 51 x 23 x 23.5 cm, Presented by the Friends of the Tate Gallery 1960

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Moore portrayed another kind of mother and child relationship through the sculpture “Mother and Child”. In most of Moore’s mother and child art-works, the mother figures were much larger than the child figures, which created the mother’s protective image to the audience. The artist created the figure in this way because he considered his mother represented “absolute stability”. (The Telegraph, 08 Sep 2003)

However the sculpture “Mother and Child” was made differently, because the artist realized that the relationship be-tween mother and child is not always harmonic, especially when the child is very young. Moore once explained that young children are often ravenous, that “they want to devour their parent: their need for food, for growing, is such that they have no tender feelings towards the parent. Sometimes the parent has almost to protect itself – and this is the op-posite side to what I usually did in my mother and child ideas.” (Alice Correia, Tate, Nov 2013) Moore wanted to re-flect this idea visually by arranging the subjects in this way, in which the child is trying to devour its parent, and the mother had to keep the child away to protect herself.

After the war, Moore was commissioned to create sculpture for church and public spaces. Many of the sculptures de-picted a warm mother and child relationship, and provided the audience reassuring and stable feeling. After the Sec-ond World War, people were happy that the war was finally ended, but at the same time they were anxious for the fu-ture. Therefore, Moore’s artworks were able to ease the anxious people, as well as highlighting the warmth between mother and child, and also family.

The sculpture on the left, “Family Group”, is one of the artworks that the artist created to reassure the public. This sculpture portrays an idealized nu-clear family. A supporting relationship of family members, and the theme of parenthood is reflected through the gesture and composition of each char-

acter. The child is closer to the mother, and the mother is holding the child with both hands. It suggests that women were encouraged to stay at home to rear children. The father in the sculp-ture is holding the child with one of his hands and placing another hand on the mother’s shoul-der. It reflects that father should be responsible for supporting the whole family. According to Jones, “in the newspapers there were calls for a return to traditional family values with accom-panying discussions on the fragmentation of the family.”

There is a strong contrast between “Family Group” and “Mother and Child”. The first sculp-ture creates a warm and harmonic atmosphere, but the second one highlights a conflicting mood. Moore didn’t look at the positive aspect only. “Mother and Child” was one of the sculp-tures created at during the anxious time. This sculpture shows that the child is aggressively try-ing to get its food from the mother, while the mother is holding the neck of the child, showing a

horrible face to protect herself. The strength of her grip is emphasized. Another kind of relation-ship between mother and child under a certain condition is highlighted, such as not enough food and material to live. Moore conveyed an unsettling feeling through this sculpture.

On one hand, the artist created this sculpture perhaps was because he wanted to appeal people not to for-get the horror of war while enjoying the peace. He created sculpture, “Three Points”around 1939-1940, which showed his anxiety of the coming war. During the war, people were suffered with lack of food. The hole on the child’s body and the single breast of the mother implies the hunger of the subjects. The mother doesn’t have any milk provided for her child because of hunger, while the child is so hungry that it wants to eat its mother’s breast. The sculpture gives the audience a deep impression that war can change the relationship between mother and child from being warm and harmonic to cold and dreadful, so that the they will keep in mind that war is evil and must be avoided.

Purpose/Function AnalysisMother and Child, cast c.1954 by Henry Moore

Henry Moore, Mother and Child, 1953, cast c.1954, Bronze on a wood base, 51 x 23 x 23.5 cm, Presented by the Friends of the Tate Gallery 1960

Henry Moore, Family Group, 1949, cast 1950–1, Bronze, 154 x 118 x 70 cm

Henry Moore, Three Points, 1939–40, Bronze, 14 x 19 x 9.5 cm, Presented by the artist 1978

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Formal Quality AnalysisMother and Child by Henry Moore

This sculpture is made of bronze. The reason Moore decided to use this medium was because he wanted to understand the process of casting a bronze. Stones and plasters were the common materials used for his previous sculptures. The artist once explained that, “at one period of my career I thought I ought to know how bronze casting was done, and I did it myself at the bottom of the garden, along with my two assistants.”

The gestures of the subjects emphasize the struggle between them, conveying a violent atmosphere to the audience. In the sculpture, the child is lean-ing its head towards its mother with its mouth widely opened. It creates a sense that it wants to bite its mother’s breast desperately. While the mother is tightly holding her child’s neck, trying to push it away from herself. This movement enlarges the distance between the two subjects, and also makes the child look more physically forceful, hence further highlights its aggressive attack on its mother. The jagged face of the mother makes her as if she is fiercely shouting at the child, to scare it away for self-protection. In addition, the child is sitting at the right rear of its mother. Associating with the ges-ture, a sense that it is trying to attack its mother from the back is created. However the mother has noticed the assault from the child and is alarmed. She leans her torso towards the child and slightly backwards. This gesture makes the action of her grip on the child’s neck looks more aggressive, thus emphasizes her strength to keep the child away. The large circular eyes of the child, on both sides of its head, have reinforced the physical power of the mother, as well as the hunger and pain of the child. Correia noted that, the eyes of the child allow to “intensify the impression that it is straining, either from its compulsion to feed, or from the pain exerted by the mother’s stranglehold.”

The subjects are depicted in surrealistic and cubist way due to Moore’s fascination with biomorphism and inspiration of the relief on the Peruvian pot-tery. “Chimú Blackware Pot”. The bark-like mouth of the child makes the audience think of a hungry chick that can’t wait for its mother to feed, which emphasizes a hunger and demanded child. There is a hole in the child’s body, which implies that the child’s stomach is empty. The round and plump left breast of the mother contrasts with the right side of her chest, which is concave (Alice Correia, Tate, Nov 2013). This suggests that her right breast is already depleted, which shows that the mother has limited milk to provide the child because of hunger. Therefore, the mother’s jagged face creates a sense that she is trying to stop the child from “eating” her breast, and the weakness of the mother because of hunger is highlighted.

The neck of the child has a similar length with the mother’s body, which makes it seems physically powerful and is craving to “eat” the breast of its mother. The mother is sitting on a two-leg bench, while the child is connected to her torso. The reason Moore created the artwork in this way perhaps is to show the intimate relationship between the mother and child, or to suggest that the child needs its mother’s nursing to survive. In addition, pyrami-dal composition is used by making the subjects sitting on the bench, thus making the artwork balanced. It also draws the audience’ first attention to the child’s aggressive gesture, in which it is trying to bite its mother, then arouses the audience’s attention to the horrible and fearful expression of the mother. It hence better emphasizes the conflict and violence between the subjects, thus guiding the audience to think about what is happening between the mother and child. The chair is stable, that contrasts with the mother and child who are sitting on it. Therefore the contradictory bond between mother and child is expressed.

There are various working marks left on the surface of the sculpture, suggests that different tools had been used to shape the sculpture and create tex-tures. According to Correia, “parallel vertical lines on the inside surface of the triangular bench leg are suggestive of a claw tool, while the sharper an-gled shapes of the two heads were probably filed when the plaster was dry”. The sculpture has a smooth surface and blunt edge, which contrasts with the jagged body part of the subjects. Perhaps Moore wanted to emphasize that it is mother‘s duty to protect their child from huger under any circum-stances.

A plaster version of the sculpture was first created for making the hollow mould to cast the bronze. After the bronze was casted, patination was em-ployed to color of the sculpture. This sculpture is in a dark tone with a dark chocolate-brown patina. Correia explained that, “a patina is the surface color of a sculpture and is usually achieved by applying chemical solutions to the pre-heated bronze surface.” The color of the sculpture creates a heavy feeling, thus reflecting a conflicted and cold relationship between the mother and the child. In addition, light and shadow are created through designing the shape of the sculpture. When the light hits on it, only a few shadows would be created, so that the audience is able to see the figures clearly, especially the facial expressions of the mother and child.

Henry Moore, Mother and Child, 1953, cast c.1954, Bronze on a wood base, 51 x 23 x 23.5 cm, Presented by the Friends of the Tate Gallery 1960

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Culture Context AnalysisMy Mother by Zhang Xiaogang

This is an oil painting created by Zhang Xiaogang whose artworks are often subject to his per-sonal life and memory of China Cultural Revolution, as well as the missing connection with his family members.

When Zhang was eight years old, China Cultural Revolution broke out. He was forced to leave his family members while he was growing up, as his parents were sent for re-education at a study camp because his mother had relatives living abroad. Zhang’s mother was a communist party member. He described his mother was an educated and courteous person and devoted member of communist, who was always strict to the manner of her child. However she was often suspected and imprisoned by the party due to her civilized and wealthy background. The suspicion of the party made Zhang’s mother always live in self-blaming. Under the pressure and affliction of the political life, she eventually developed Schizophrenia when Zhang was eleven. Zhang’s emotions were hit hard because of it. Under the horror that Culture Revolu-tion had brought to Zhang’s family and Chinese society, Zhang focused on the aftermath of it.

In 1992, Zhang travelled to Germany for three months to study the artworks of his admired artists. However he was disappointed with the opportunism of the West’s Avant-garde, which made him return to focus on his own identity as a Chinese artist and decide to explore his own history, past and pre-sent.

Zhang’s painting was greatly influenced by the old family photographs. After he came back from Germany, he found a box of old family photographs in his parents’ house. The photos recorded all the old memory of Zhang’s family as well as the memory of the society in Mao era. Zhang was strongly in-spired by a photo of his mother in young age, who was totally different from the one Zhang is familiar with. The artist could see his mother was trou-bled and ill, however in this photo his mother was serene and attractive. Katherine Markley on Artnet describes that “struck by the unfamiliar images of his parents’ faces, Zhang embarked on these works by analyzing various family structures in formats resembling old and faded photographs.” Therefore, many of Zhang’s artworks are presented in a photograph-like style, and this might be the reason why “My Mother” looks impassive or gloomy.

“The interior is a typical setting during the Mao era with the green color adorning the lower part of the wall.” (CHIU-TI JANSEN, Sotheby’s, 1 Apr 2013) The Kettle and cup on the table, the orange switch on the wall, the white cloth on the sofa and the Mao-suit on Zhang’s mother are all the typical features of that period, which suggests the theme of history and memory. Zhang always combines traditional Chinese elements with contemporary ele-ments in his artworks to reflect “a kind of forgotten memory”, as well as the passage of time. (Jonathan Fineberg, The Space of Amnesia: Zhang Xiao-gang’s New Work, 2012)

There is a light bulb hanging up in right upper corner of the room, while the power cord is presented in an unusual manner as it “curves through the air”, “snaking down to meet an extension cord.” (CHIU-TI JANSEN, Sotheby’s, 1 Apr 2013). According to Sotheby’s, this Light bulb and power cord motif was first presented in his Forgetting and Remembering series (2001-2003), and it became a recurrent motif for his later artworks. In other art-works, the features such as note books and plum trees are also the recurrent motifs for Zhang’s artwork. Sotheby’s explains that “these are objects that the artist observed during periods of solitude in his life, suggesting a sense of forlornness and attempt to seek connection.” (CHIU-TI JANSEN, So-theby’s, 1 Apr 2013)

During Mao era, there wan’t freedom for speech. Individuals had to be extremely careful with their words and deeds, otherwise they would be de-nounced by the public, including their family members. This caused a twisted relationship between people and a fragile family bond. People need to rely on each other to live, but at the same time they have to be aware of other’s thought on their behaviors.

In addition, Zhang portrayed the interior of the house during Mao era, which is plain and simple. The painting reflects the ideology and culture at that time, that was, poverty and simple were honorable. It also reflects that plain life was actively advocated at that time. The depiction of the furniture and decorations in the house further emphasizes the theme of Cultural Revolution.

Zhang Xiaogang, My Mother, 2012, Oil on canvas, 2012, oil on canvas, 140 x 220 cm, Courtesy Pace Gallery, Roland P. Murdock Collection

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Purpose/Function AnalysisMy Mother by Zhang Xiaogang

In 1900s after the trip in Germany, the aftermath of Culture Revolution became the backdrop to Zhang’s paintings. The old photos he found trig-gered his desire to “capture and recontextualize” the forgotten histories of China (Katherine Markley, Zhang Xiaogang Artist Index and the Bloodlines Series, February 26, 2012). He focuses on the sub-ject of memory, and always compares that to the present China. The relationship between family members and his brooding childhood experience is reflected through his artworks.

Zhang wants to explore and express his two memories through his artworks. One is the experience of Culture Revolution, and another is his relationship with his parents during his childhood. “My Mother” is more tended to explore the second.

Zhang said “my mother passed away in 2010, and it really affected me. I tried to go back to these early memories as a child, remembering what it was like looking up at my parents back then. I al-tered the scale between child and mother to reflect what it was like for a child to look at adults. I also wanted to reflect complex feelings in My Mother, which was related to my personal experiences.” This shows that Zhang wants to recall his memory and feeling towards his mother during his child-hood through this painting. During the Cultural Revolution, family members’ relationship became estranged. Zhang was only eight years old when the Culture Revolution broke out, when he couldn’t often see his mother, but only heard a little information of her from his father. Several years later, when Zhang was around fourteen, he was told that her mother diagnosed schizophrenia. Therefore in this painting, an unfamiliar feeling between the mother and the boy is expressed. The boy seems trying to understand the “woman” sit beside him by gazing at the “woman”. This artwork is the re-flection of Zhang’s relationship with his mother.

This painting also reflects the social phenomenon during the revolution. Each person was actually alone that they always “betrayed/attacked” each other to protect him/her from being denounced by the public. The relationship between each family member was twisted, cold and hostile, which is totally contradicted from the society nowadays. However in the past, during Mao era, people yet had to rely on each other to live. This complicated relationship is shown through the space between the mother and the boy as how remote they sit, while the boy is looking at the mother timidly, as if he is trying to understand and seeking a connection with her.

The theme of individuality and collective is also highlighted in his other paintings, such as “Bloodline — Big Family: Mother with Three Sons”. Ac-cording to the description from Christie’s, an artwork selling organization, “the figures [in the artwork] are based directly on images of Zhang's own mother and his childhood friends”. In both paintings, the subjects are in a conservative and upright posture, which reinforces the idea of that people were separated and lonely. While a red line that represents “bloodline” is drawn in “Bloodline — Big Family: Mother with Three Sons”, which con-

nects the subjects in the painting. In the context of this painting, the blood relationship that Zhang referred to is not only between his mother and him, but between those of the whole Chi-nese nation. This is because the nation was “conceptualized as one ‘big family’”, according to Christie’s’s description to the artwork. It also noted that “and individuals struggled to devote themselves to this collective ideal.”

Zhang once pointed out that “I could see a way to paint the contradictions between the individ-ual and the collective and it was from this that I started really to paint. There’s a complex rela-tionship between the state and the people that I could express by using the Cultural Revolution. China is like a family, a big family. Everyone has to rely on each other and to confront each other. This was the issue I wanted to give attention to and, gradually, it became less and less linked to the Cultural Revolution and more to people’s states of mind.” (Abigail Fitzgibbons, Zhang Xiaogang:Biography, 2009)

In 2007, during an interview, Zhang pointed out that choosing to reflect the theme of individu-als and society allows him “to investigate what exactly this relationship is and the particular con-tradictions and mutually dependent relationships that exist within society...After all, the family is

a collective concept and my generation has a particular relationship with the idea of family and it is closely tied to our collective memories.” He also explained that, “because of this, the subject of my work, beginning in 2000, began to reflect the perplexing relationships that develop between people and the turbulent lives they lead.” (Jonathan Fineberg, The Space of Amnesia: Zhang Xiaogang’s New Work, 2012)

Zhang said, “I am searching to grasp how the Chinese of different generations are coming to terms with that collective experience and how parents are transmitting to their children the knowledge about that particular historical event”. This shows that he creates the artwork because he wants to un-derstand how different Chinese people think about the Cultural Revolution.

Zhang Xiaogang, My Mother, 2012, Oil on canvas, 2012, oil on canvas, 140 x 220 cm, Courtesy Pace Gallery, Roland P. Murdock Collection

Zhang Xiaogang, Bloodline — Big Family: Mother with Three Sons, 1993, oil on canvas, 149cm x 179cm.

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Formal Quality AnalysisMy Mother by Zhang Xiaogang

In the painting, the mother is in Mao-suit, typical clothes worn during Mao era. The Mao-suit motif was first used in his “Bloodline - Big Family” series. In “My Mother”, Zhang’s mother is looking at the front impassively and sit-ting in a formal and upright way, which portrays the stoic of her. It also reflects that Zhang sees his mother as an ill and trouble person. The young boy in the painting is Zhang himself. He is gazing at his mother anxiously, which reflects his worry or fear towards her, but at the same time, he is trying to understand her.

The estranged relationship between the mother and boy is clearly expressed through the distance between the two. The audience is able to feel the silence in the room. This relationship is contradicted to nowadays’ society, of which mother and child are imitated normally. It therefore allows the people to compare the past and the present, and un-derstand the cold relationship between family members during Mao era, even mother and son.

All the subjects in this artwork are silent and still. Zhang explained that, “on the surface the faces in these portraits appear as calm as still water, but underneath there is great emotional turbulence. Within this state of conflict the propagation of obscure and ambiguous destinies is carried on from generation to generation.” (Jonathan Fineberg, The Space of Amnesia: Zhang Xiaogang’s New Work, 2012) Culture Revolution twisted people’s mind and relation-

ship. Even family members would isolate with each other, because they were afraid of being labeled as rightists or counter revolutionaries. People were anxious and afraid to express their real thought.

The light source comes from the right that casts a heavy shadow on the left face of the mother and the boy, but the audi-ence still can see their emotionless facial expression. Therefore, it further enhances the cold yet calm atmosphere between them. The use of lighting also reflects people’s characteristic during Mao era, that is, they looked peaceful on the surface, but actually a strong anxiety is deeply inside their mind.

The shape of the objects is realistically depicted, which makes the painting like a photograph. The mother is almost twice bigger than the child, therefore, drawing the audience’s attention to her at the first glance. This proportion high-lights the tough image of the mother and creates a fragile image to the boy, who is afraid of his mother. It reflects the estranged relationship between family members during the revolution. On the other hand, through altering the size of the boy, Zhang also wants to recall his memory of fear as a child when looking at adults.

Comparing with his previous artworks, such as “Bloodline — Big Family: Mother with Three Sons”, a wider range of color is used and the artwork is presented in a more realistic way. In “My mother”, Zhang’s red cloth contrasts with his mother’s blue shirt, which highlights his curiosity towards his mother and the coldness of his mother. The use of blue and red also makes the subjects distinct from the yellow sofa and the green wall, allowing the audiences to focus on the subjects. In addition, both paintings are in a grayish tone that provides an nostalgic but grief mood. Zhang once explained that “Grey gives people the sense of a being unrelated to real-ity, a feeling of the past...Grey represents my personal emotions and it is connected to my own temperament. I like the feeling of grey. It is a forgetful feeling that can also evoke a sense of dreaming....” (Jonathan Fineberg, Memory and Desire, 2007)

Both artworks were painted with a thin texture and the colors are smoothly blended, which makes the painting look like an old photograph. For example, in “My Mother”, the way Zhang painted the wall and the floor makes the wall look like brushed by lime and the floor looks like paved by cement. Lime and cement were popular building materials used during Mao era.

The two artworks use symmetrical composition. In “My Mother”, the sofa is positioned in the middle of the painting, and the Mother and son are sitting at the edges of the sofa respectively. In “Bloodline — Big Family: Mother with Three Sons”, we can also see the image is in symmetrical composition. These are the evi-dence that Zhang’s inspiration was from old family photographs, because peo-ple in old Chinese photos often stood in a symmetrical position. The use of this composition also emphasizes the theme of gradually forgotten memory.

The room in the painting is a typical Mao era design to reflect the sense of the period of Cultural Revolution. The switch of the wall on the left and the table on the right beside the sofa corresponds with each other and creates balance to the whole picture. They also make the painting look photo-like, as if Zhang really once sat beside his mother, gazing at her with full of anxiety.

A rectangle shadow falls on the wall beside the mother, which indicates the door of the room, creating a sense of depth. This shadow also works as a leading line to draw the audience’s attention to the light bulb, thus bringing out the light bulb and power cord motif. The power cord is connected to the extension socket and placed beside the boy, which reflects the loneliness of Zhang being separated from his mother as well as his seeking the connection with his mother.

In addition, the way the power cord hangs down also works as a leading line. The upper part of the wire points towards the head of the mother, thus drawing the audience’s attention to her. Then it hangs down in the manner that follows the shape of the mother’s body. Finally the power cord reaches the floor and is extended to meet the socket, which is placed beside the boy’s feet, thereby bringing people’s eyes from the mother to the boy and highlighting the theme of “My mother”. The audience can see the stoic of the mother, and then focus on how the boy thinks of his mother.

Zhang Xiaogang, My Mother, 2012, Oil on canvas, 2012, oil on canvas, 140 x 220 cm, Courtesy Pace Gallery, Roland P. Murdock Collection

Zhang Xiaogang, Bloodline — Big Family: Mother with Three Sons, 1993, oil on canvas, 149cm x 179cm.

xi

Cassatt, Moore and Zhang were all influenced or affected by significant historical events. The artworks were painted after periods

of war or strike, that the function of or the relationship between family units, the roles of mothers upon children became a subject

explored by the artists. For Cassatt, after the Civil War everyday life became a common topic among American artists, including

depicting family relationship and the theme was often presented through portraits. After the war, feminine role of being a selfless

and devoted mother as well as a dedicated household manager was commonly expressed in the artists’ artwork. While for Moore,

during the two world wars, London was suffered from shortage of food. Therefore, in his artwork “Mother and Child”, a hungry

mother and child are portrayed with a violent atmosphere to reflect people’s affliction under war. Zhang’s artworks are strongly

influenced by Chinese Cultural Revolution. During the period, people’s relationship was estranged, even family members. In addi-

tion, Zhang’s mother got Schizophrenia due to the revolution, which gave Zhang a serious mental impact. Due to the aftermath

of the revolution, the artist wanted to explore the relationship between mothers and children and family members at that time.

Comparing Zhang with Cassatt and Moore, the artworks that Zhang studied influenced his choice of theme to explore for his art-

works. In 1922, he acquired the artworks of German artists in 1922. However he was disappointed with the opportunism of the

West’s Avant-garde, so he decided to focus on his own identity as a Chinese artist. While for Cassatt and Moore, their styles were

influenced by the artworks they studied. Cassatt used to study Spanish artist, Diego Velazquez’s artworks to learn the method to

show everyday scenes in a natural way. She was also strongly inspired by Impressionist, Edgar Degas, and she began to paint in a

high-keyed palette and rapid brush stroke. Madonna and Child artworks also influenced Cassatt’s painting, which they were con-

sidered as the icon of reflecting people’s respect to motherhood. Through studying the artworks, Cassatt learned the way to reflect

the moment of mothers when they were taking care of their children. For Moore, he was influenced by the works of Constantin

Brancusi, who often presents the subjects in organic forms. Pre-Columbian, Toltec-Maya, African and Ancient Peruvian arts also

gave him a great influence on creating artworks. For example the sculpture “Mother and Child” was inspired by a relief on a

Peru’s black ware pot.

The three artists’ works were also inspired by their interest and own experiences. The three artworks were their result of the art-

ists’ carful observation on the relationship between mothers and children. Cassatt was always enthusiastic to depict the bond be-

tween mother and child, due to the interest in American culture at that time, in which women were praised for rearing

children. The arrival of Cassatt’s nephews and nieces gave her a great opportunity to observe the intimate moment between

mother and child, which as a result she successfully created the artwork of Mother and Child. While for Moore, the death of his

mother, who has a strong bond with him, as well as the birth of his daughter inspired him to explore and depict the relationship

between mother and child. When Moore was exploring the theme, he discovered that mothers and their children were not always

happy. Sometimes the child could be very demanding that made mothers unable to deal with them. In Zhang’s “My Mother”, the

elements in the painting, such as the light bulb, the interior design of the room and the Kettle are in the typical style of Mao’s era.

Hence the artist was inspired by the design during this era. Zhang’s artworks were also greatly influenced by the old family photo-

graphs. For “My Mother”, he was inspired by a photo of his mother in young age, who was totally different from the one he was

familiar with. It made the artist wanted to explore and recall his relationship with his mother when he was a child.

ComparisonCulture Context Analysis

xii

The three artists all reflected the relationship between mothers and children. However, in “Emmie and her Child”, Cassatt por-

trayed a strong, intimate bond between the two, but Moore and Zhang reflected a negative and inharmonic relationship. Moore’s

“Mother and Child” shows the violent and conflicting relationship between the two, while Zhang’s “My mother” depicted his dis-

tanced, unacquainted feeling towards his mother.

The three artists created the artworks due to cultural influence or their experiences and feelings during the period of time they

have gone through. Cassatt created “Emmie and her Child” at the time when women were defined in American society as those

who should only take care of the domestic works and rear children. As a female artist, who always observed the interaction be-

tween mothers and children, she wanted to show the value and importance of women’s roles. For Moore’s artwork, due to the hor-

rible aftermath of the two world wars, people were anxious for the future, including the artist himself. Moore had seen many peo-

ple suffering from war, perhaps this experience made him created the artwork to reflect, that the relationship between mothers and

children could be totally changed into the violent kind under condition of lacking materials for survival, hence reminding people

not to forget the cruelty and horror of war. For Zhang, he wanted to explore and express the experience during Chinese Cultural

Revolution. The artist wanted to highlight the twisted and complex relationship between each individual and the fragile family

bonds, and reflect the terror during that time. This damaging period had given Zhang a great psychological stress and the sense of

alienation. The impact of this period made Zhang to create the artworks, so as to understand people’s feeling towards the Cultural

Revolution by observing their comments on his artworks.

In addition, the artists created their artworks for self-expression. Cassatt wanted to express her longing for her own family, as well

as her affection for her nephews, nieces and also her friends’ children. The subjects in her works were realistically painted, to hon-

estly capture the interaction between mothers and children. Moore created “Mother and Child” to reflect that the relationship be-

tween mothers and children is not always tranquil and easing. Zhang’s “My Mother” reflects his unfamiliar relationship with his

mother. He created this artwork perhaps also because he wanted to commemorate his mother and recall his feeling towards his

mother when he was a child.

ComparisonPurpose/Function Analysis

xiii

The mother and child in the painting of Cassatt and Zhang are still and quiet, but in Moore’s sculpture are moving fiercely. The three artists arranged their human subjects in a seated position, hence achieving different effects. In Cassatt’s artwork, the subtle interaction between Emmie and child is portrayed. Emmie is sitting on a chair and embracing her child, protecting it from falling down, while the child is touching the face of her mother with one of its hand. By having the child sitting on its mother’s leg, together with the protecting gesture of the mother, the intimate relationship between the two is reflected and the protective image is created for Em-mie. However, Moore’s sculpture creates a violent and horrible atmosphere through the interaction between the mother and the child. The child is trying to bite its mother’s breast, while the mother is holding her child’s neck with a fearfully expression. By having the subjects sitting on the stable bench, a pyramidal composition is employed, and a contrast with the forceful movement of the two. In Zhang’s artwork, his mother is in Mao-suit. She is sitting quietly on the sofa with an impassive look, while Zhang himself in the painting is sitting on the same sofa, but is far away from his mother. The position of Zhang and his mother contrasts with the posi-tion of Emmie and her child in Cassatt’s painting, in which Zhang’s artwork has reflected a sense of estrangement. His mother is facing the front, while Zhang is look-ing at his mother anxiously. A silent and cold atmosphere is thus created.

In the three paintings, the mothers are always dominating the space, which creates the audience a sense that mothers were always leading and influencing their chil-dren. Both Cassatt and Moore used a pyramidal composition to allow the audience first drawing attention to the expression of the subjects, hence emphasizing the atmosphere they wanted to create. Cassatt composed the subjects, in which they almost fill the whole canvas. Along with the realistically painted subjects and ab-stractly painted background, Cassatt made Emmie and her child distinct from the surrounding. Moore composed the sculpture in the way that is similar with the re-lief on the black ware pot from Peru, where his inspiration came from. In addition, the stable bench creates a contrast with the chaotic and conflicting gestures of the mother and the child, thus a violence atmosphere is highlighted. In Zhang’s painting, the surrounding is in the style of Mao era, thus the context of the artwork is explained. The rectangle shadow falls on the wall beside the mother suggests the existence of a door. This shadow works as a leading line that makes the audience to focus on the light bulb, which hangs beside Zhang’s mother. Thus light bulb and power cord motive is highlighted. The power cord of the light bulb also works as a leading line, which brings people’s eyes from the mother to the boy to emphasis that the boy is trying to understand her mother. The painting has used a symmetrical composition to imitate the old Chinese photographs. Thus, the theme of gradually forgotten memory is implied.

Cassatt’s painting was created through the use of splotches of colors. Similarly with Zhang’s painting, thick paint was avoided in Cassatt’s artwork, and the subjects were smoothly blended. However, Cassatt didn’t do the same to paint the background, as Zhang did. Instead, she used a rush brushstroke to depict the surrounding of Emmie and her Child. While the surface of Moore’s sculpture is smooth that contrasts with the violent interaction between the subjects.

In “Emmie and her Child” a warm and bright tone is used to emphasis the harmony between the mother and the child. Complimentary color is used to create con-trast and depth, hence creating the sense of space, which attracts audience’s attention to the subjects. Moore’s sculpture, on the contrary, has a dark tone and is painted by dark chocolate-brown patina. The color of the sculpture creates a heavy feeling, thus reflecting a conflicted and cold relationship between the mother and the child. While Zhang’s “My Mother” uses red and blue to allow the subjects stand out from the surrounding and emphasis the curiosity of Zhang towards his mother as well as the coldness of his mother. A grayish tone is used to create an obsolete and grief atmosphere. In addition, similarly with “Emmie and her Child”, space is created in this painting through the shadow of the door, which falls beside the mother.

In Cassatt’s painting, sharp edges are avoided and round shapes are used to make the subjects look soft and gentle. This thus emphasized the please between the mother and the child. Comparing with Moore’s sculpture, sharp shapes are used to portray a pair of brutal mother and child. The bark-like mouth of the child and a hole on its body implies the theme of hunger. The jagged face of the mother along with its single breast creates a sense that she is protecting herself from the attack of her child. A contrast in shape is created through the blunt edge of the sculpture. Perhaps the artist wanted to reflect that mother should always keep their child away from hunger, regardless the cruelty of the situation. Whereas, Zhang’s “My Mother” does not sharpen or blunt the subjects/objects in his painting, which makes the painting look like a photograph, which he found his inspiration.

The subjects in Cassatt’s painting are realistically painted. The subtle interaction between Emmie and her child is honestly depicted, and the strong bond between the two is reflected. In Moore’s sculpture, the child is half smaller than the mother, making the subjects identifiable. The neck of the child has a similar length with the mother’s body, which makes it physically powerful and craving to “eat” the breast of its mother. In Zhang’s painting, the size of artist himself is altered smaller so that his mother is twice bigger than him, to reflect that he is trying to recall his memory of looking at adults when he was a child.

In “Emmie and her Child”, there is not space between the subjects, with their heads are next to each other. Hence their intimate relationship is clearly portrayed. In Moore’s “Mother and Child”, although the subjects are connecting to each other, the mother’s resisting her child from approaching her and the bended neck of the child increases the distance between the two. While the gap between the subjects in “My Mother” is the furthest among the three artworks, as if they have no relation-ship with each other. Thus the estrangement between Zhang and his mother is emphasized.

The light source of “Emmie and her Child” and “My Mother” are both from top right. However the difference between the two artworks is that a light shadow casts on the mother and the child in the first artwork, thus creating a peaceful and easing atmosphere, while a heavy shadow drops onto the subjects in the second artwork, which highlights a cold atmosphere between individuals. Light and shadow is created in “Mother and Child” through the design of the sculpture. When light hits on the sculpture, only a few shadow will cast on it. Thus the audiences can see the expression and interaction of the mother and her child clearly.

ComparisonFormal Quality Analysis

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"Breakfast in Bed Art Print by Mary Cassatt at Art.com." Art.com. Art.com Inc. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.

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"Breakfast in Bed." Huntington. The Huntington Library. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.

"Little Girl in a Blue Armchair." Art Object Page. National Gallery of Art. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.

"Main Page." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Mar. 2017. Web. 24 Nov. 2016.

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"Scoop-cassatt." Scoop-cassatt: 3-4. Ngakids. Web. 15 Mar. 2017.

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Buettner, Stewart. Images of Modern Motherhood in the Art of Morisot, Cassatt, Modersohn-Becker, Kollwitz. Vol. 7. Woman's Art. 14. Print.

Bullard, John E. (1972). Mary Cassatt: Oils and Pastels. Watson-Guptill Publications. ISBN 0-8230-0569-0. LCCN 70-190524.

Donagrandi, Richard. "Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman." ArtScope.net: Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.

Giesecke, Ernestine. The Life and Work of Mary Cassatt. Oxford: Heinemann Library, 2000. Print.

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Mancoff, Debra N. Mary Cassatt: Reflections of Women's Lives. London: F. Lincoln, 1998. Print.

Mathews, Nancy Mowll (1994). Mary Cassatt: A Life. New York: Villard Books. ISBN 978-0-394-58497-3. LCCN 98-8028.

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Weinberg, H. Barbara. "Americans in Paris, 1860–1900." The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oct. 2006. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.

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