Faith and Modernism: Depictions of the Virgin and Child in the 20th century

The text below is the excerpt of the book The Virgin and Child (ISBN: 9781683254638), written by Kyra Belán and Ernest Renan, published by Parkstone International.

The 20th century was a time of radical changes: the machine age, the industrial revolution and the two World Wars paint a picture of major forces splitting old social systems and beliefs. The Christian Church was, at times, politically unimportant, particularly to the Communist bloc of countries in which even the existence of religion was denied. Artists for the first time separated themselves from realistic or naturalistic ideals, introducing a variety of abstract and even non-objective styles, and began to experiment with many new concepts, media and techniques. Some of those who chose to represent the Virgin Mary broke all the rules, while others chose instead to follow the old formulas. The first wave of feminism gave women more human rights within the dominant patriarchal model of society, which began to adopt some more matriarchal qualities. Slowly, women made inroads into the mainstream workforce and gained privileges hitherto reserved only for men. Many women, including artists, chose to ignore Mary, since her name had been used as an element in past oppression. Some saw her as fully female, rejecting the concept of the virgin birth, and others saw her as inspiration for their portraits of mothers with their children.

The styles of the 20th-century artists follow several major movements, including Impressionism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Cubism, and Post- Modernism. Many artists were inspired by more than one style, forming hybrid styles of their own. They broke out of the traditional themes, or drastically modified the acceptable Marian iconography. The results of these creative efforts are no longer easily classifiable by themes, media, or techniques.

Mary Cassatt was the only female Impressionist among artists in the United States. As was customary at the time, she remained single and celibate in order to maintain her career in art throughout her life. It was not coincidental that she was deeply inspired by the Madonna and Child images she saw at the Louvre, and painted her own versions. One of her many variations on the theme was a painting completed circa 1889, and titled Mother and Child. The mother clasps the hands of the nude, standing child, her profile overlapping his shoulder and his cheek. The bond between the two is very real, and it is obvious that the child is the creation of her flesh. This is another version of the Madonna obscured, and a tribute to all the mothers of the world.

Paula Modersohn-Becker’s The Annunciation, of around 1905, typically renounces the realistic approach in favour of a more intuitive, emotional and abstract style, while preserving the essence of the traditional composition formulated for this theme by Renaissance artists. Both Mary and the archangel hold roses – flowers that represent female spirituality and godliness.

The oil painting Reclining Mother and Child was completed by Paula Modersohn-Becker in 1906. The artist, whose contributions include her role as a founding mother of Expressionism, was inspired by the abstract elegance of African art. Here, the mother looks powerful, reminiscent of an African Mother Goddess; the child mimics her pose, as the two nudes lie asleep in loving harmony.

In 1907, Paula Modersohn-Becker painted her Kneeling Mother and Child, in which, as in the previous work, both the mother and child are rendered in the nude. The mother, reminiscent of the Black Madonna, is nursing her infant with her miraculous milk; Modersohn-Becker tapped into the symbolism of the milk of the Virgin and the Milky Way, the celestial symbol of the Queen of Heaven.

Our Lady of Peace by Evelyn de Morgan, executed in 1902, depicts the Madonna as a perfect godly being, her halo radiating light and her body emanating a luminous aura. She is accompanied by several angels, subjects from the heavenly world. Kneeling before her is a man attired in a medieval knight’s armor.

The artist was clearly inspired by the days of the troubadours during the 12th and the 13th centuries in Europe, when devotion to Mary reached unprecedented heights. Mary and her predecessors, the prehistoric and ancient goddesses, were usually regarded as loving and caring, the keepers of peace and protectors of the people.

This version of Mary carries the old romantic symbols into the beginning of the 20th century. The standing “orant” figure, attired in white and tilting her head toward heaven, is another modern allusion to the Virgin, and can also be interpreted as the Great Goddess Isis, Mary’s “ancestor” and partprototype. The figure is surrounded by the churning exists between the two realms of Creation, the earthly and the spiritual. Evelyn de Morgan tapped into the rich mythological heritage of Western civilisation to celebrate the female divine principle.

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