Barbara Hepworth
Mother and Child, 1934, Cumberland alabaster on marble base, 23 x 45.5 x 18.9 cm, Tate; Purchased with assistance from the Friends of the Tate Gallery 1993, T06676, ©️ Bowness; Image: ©️ Tate, London / Art Resource, NY
The (Im)Possibility of Separation
Commentary by Xiao Situ
With its undulating contours and natural materials, Barbara Hepworth’s semi-abstract sculpture suggests bones or other organic matter. Knowing its title, Mother and Child, however, may lead the viewer to decipher the work as more specifically human. Called Mother and Child, the work resembles a woman lying on her side with her right elbow anchored on the marble base and her knees bent upwards. She reaches out her left arm to cradle a baby on her lap. We can view the central hole in the composition not only as the negative space beneath the mother’s raised arm, but also the space within her body from which the infant emerged and which it has now outgrown. (Gale and Stephens 1999: 48).
Other aspects of the sculpture also hint at the parent–child relationship. While Mother and Child may at first appear to be a single alabaster mass resting on a plinth, it is actually composed of two separate pieces of stone: the larger horizontal body of the mother, and the smaller flatter body of the baby. It would, in principle, be possible for both the mother and child to exist independently and be displayed as two separate works. Exhibited alone, we might consider the woman’s pose as one of relaxation rather than caregiving. Without the stabilizing surround of the mother stone, however, the baby pebble must be laid flat on a horizontal surface, suggesting vulnerability and an earlier stage of infancy.
The story of Shelomith bat Dibri and her son raises comparable questions about the possibility of independence and autonomy between a mother–child pair. The inclusion of Shelomith’s name in Leviticus (a book about purity rules and ritual regulations) is based upon her maternal relationship to a man convicted of misconduct. Without her guilt by association, Shelomith might never have been included in the text at all. At the same time, the man’s misdeed might never have been written down were it not for his mother’s Israelite lineage. He is half-Egyptian, so it is his mother’s background that qualifies him to live among the Israelites.
The inclusion of Shelomith and her son in Leviticus is based on their inextricable tie to each other’s identities and actions. While the circumstances that led them to be written down in Israel’s history is cast as negative, the mere presence of these two figures in the book nevertheless preserves their memory in the heart of the Torah.
References
Gale, Matthew, and Chris Stephens. 1999. Barbara Hepworth: Works in the Tate Gallery Collection and the Barbara Hepworth Museum St Ives (London: Tate Gallery)
