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DESCRIPTION:
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DISCUSSION:
Created as a minimalist composition, Minne executed this work using bas relief in order to focus the viewer's attention upon the intimate relationship between mother and child. Luminescent in quality, this piece captures the qualities of vigilance and dependence.
Entitled Moeder Met Kind (Mother and Child) this work is dated circa 1902. The piece is an original plaster sculpture signed by the artist along the back left-hand corner.
Positioned at a slight contra posto, the mother attentively stairs into the distance affectionately clutching her child. Minne's orientation of the sculpture creates a sense of movement and agility which is intensified by the stiff relationship between figure and base. Representing the child as part of the mother, Minne sensitively depicts the tenderness of maternity and the dependent relationship between mother and child. The infant appears to emerge from the mother's being, with the child's head, body and feet melting into the sculpture. Adding delicate details such as the child's plump hand pressed against the mother's back and the child's feet that wrap around the mother's side, Minne draws the observer into confidence with the pair allowing the viewer to experience the serenity of the mother's arms.
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