Song For Maternal Love

This study combines the expressions of maternal love propositions in Western art,and analyzes the evolution of the mother and child oil paintings before and after the Renaissance,expounding the important position of this classic theme in history.It then associates with the life experience of Cassatt.Through the study of the paintings of Cassatt and the sub-themes,it analyzes Cassatt’s unique painting language from three aspects: color,shape and composition.The aim is to guide the spirit of painting to my graduation submission through research and study.In the process of practice,I will consider how to reflect the new era of the classic theme of the mother and the child in depth.I will also explore the painting language suitable for myself in the contemporary and complicated art form to express the eternal emotion of human beings,in order to inherit and innovate,making new breakthrough in an old theme.The study is divided into four parts:The first part is "the expression of the mother and child subject in the history of Western art." The proposition of maternal love in the history of Western art focused on the portraits of the Virgin and Child in the biblical genre.The first section of this chapter takes Da Vinci and Raphael’s portraits of the Virgin and Child as an example.It discusses the characteristics of the portraits of the Virgin and Child in the Renaissance;that is,the image of the Virgin and Child is elegant and intimate,and the divine and human nature are initially integrated.The second section of this chapter analyzes the evolution of the classic theme from the 17 th to the 19 th centuries with the example of Rembrandt and Miller’s mother and child paintings.In the paintings of the artist Rembrandt in the 17 th century,the image of the Virgin and Child is no longer noble and elegant,further embodying the brilliance of human nature.In the 19 th century,Miller’s works on mother and child were completely separated from the religious spirit,and portrayed the image of mother and child in real life instead.It expressed the true,good and beautiful aspects of human nature.With the alternation of artistic styles,artists from different eras and backgrounds have interpreted this classic theme in different styles.In the Impressionists born in the second half of the 19 th century,Mary Cassatt is the leader of the mother and child oil paintings.Her mother and son paitings are warm,beautiful,and full of affection,and have a profound impact on my graduation work.The second part is "Cassatt’s unique painting formal language".The first section of this chapter analyzes the different understandings of the same subject with her impressionist male painter from the perspective of female.The era in which Cassatt was born has many restrictions on women,and the space for female artists is very limited,which limits her painting.Due to this precise reason,Cassatt can focus on painting the theme of painting from a female perspective and establish a unique artistic image.The second section of this chapter combines the life experience of Cassatt to analyze the image of her mother and son paintings.The mother and son of Cassatt’s works are based on the bourgeoisie that she is familiar with in real life.The painting is beautiful and warm,reflecting her ideals.Then through Cassatt’s mother and child theme oil paintings,this chapter analyzes its unique painting form language.Her unique style of painting is mainly reflected in the following three aspects: first is subjective and vivid color;the second is concise and accurate modeling;the third is calm and narrative composition,which gives people a fresh and simple artistic experience.The third part is "The True Beauty-My Mother and Child Theme Oil Painting Creation".From the two aspects of inspiration source and creative practice,combining with my understanding of the mother and child subject matter,the experience of the whole process of graduation submission is summarized in this part.In the course of practice,I used Cassatt’s painting formal language,joined the new era of women’s understanding of parent-child relationship and life,injected a new era spirit into the classic theme,and created a self-art style.The same is true for mother and child.The similarity between me and Cassatt is that they all take the female perspective as the starting point,the subject matter is the parent-child interaction in daily life,and the beautiful figure.The difference is that the social background of Cassatt’s life limits the subject matter of her creation.She is more like a bystander when she describes her parent-child relationship,and the character she describes is based on her and her daughter’s image.For the real,the choice of subject matter is more active.In summary,the most primitive and sincere emotions of the mother and the child are also the eternal pursuit of the artist.As a classic image in Western art,this theme still has positive significance in modern society and is worthy of study and discussion.In today’s fast-moving era,the spirit of entertainment has made many artists to give up such seemingly plain and sublime subjects,which is really a pity.This work is dedicated to Casatt,the great mother.