Thanks, Mom! 6 Famous Artists Who Loved Their Mothers So Much They Made Them Their Creative Muses
artnet news
by Katie White
Since at least the Renaissance, mothers have encouraged—and sometimes inspired—artistic genius.
Is there a more complex, loving, and sometimes fraught relationship than that between mother and child? Psychology tomes have been written trying to untangle the nuances and consequences of that very quandary. Perhaps it’s inevitable, then, that over the course of history, mothers of artists would sometimes become their muses. Who could make a more perfect model or a more deserving source of inspiration?
Patient, encouraging, and especially affordable, mothers often make the ideal subject. Albrecht Dürer, for example, certainly thought so, and was one of the earliest artists to capture the likeness of his mother, when, in 1514, he rendered her at 63 years old, aging but resolute. And he was certainly not the last to do so.
© LaToya Ruby Frazier. Collection of ICA Boston.
A Family Portrait: Photographer LaToya Ruby Frazier’s 2014 book, The Notion of Family, is filled with stark and moving images of her home city of Braddock, Pennsylvania, and has been hailed as one of the best photography books of the 21st century. At the heart of the project are Frazier’s haunting images of her mother and “Grandma Ruby,” lifelong residents of this forgotten American industrial city, who come to embody the personal toll of poverty and societal disenfranchisement.
Constant Collaborator: Among the most stirring portraits in the collection are ones made in collaboration with Frazier’s mom. In these works, Frazier herself at times appears partially obscured by her mother’s figure, like a small child hiding behind her parent’s legs. In another sense, these same images are a window from the past into the future, showing the effects of a lifetime of struggle on the body—but also, in a sense, a kind of hereditary of strength.
Caregiving: Frazier suffers from lupus and her mother has battled cancer. To date, the photographer continues to live close by so they can provide care for each other.
Courtesy of: artnet news
