Fernando Botero (b. 1932)

Travis Hansson Fine Art, Los Angeles
Private Collection, California

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Fernando Botero's larger than life monumental sculpture is cherished worldwide. Widely exhibited for over four decades, Botero's breathtaking bronzes have graced public squares, boulevards, skyscrapers and the avenues of large cities and small towns. From Paris to Tokyo, New York to Buenos Aires, his voluptuous and instantly recognizable characters have become ingrained in the public's memory.

From the beginning of his artistic career, Botero has drawn inspiration from historical sources ranging from Roman and Greek classical sculpture to Renaissance and Baroque painting. Historically grounded, his work portrays everyday imagery; glimpses of human experience.

Mother and Child is a magnificent example of a familial scene: a seated mother patiently taking a rest while holding her young son on her lap. Measuring two and half meters in height, her gigantic and disproportionate size dwarfs the little boy's. As it is often the case in Botero's painting of women, the mother appears disconnected from her surroundings, lost in her own persona and emotionally distant from her playful child. 

Maternal scenes such as this one have been the source of artistic inspiration for millennium. Bronze figures of the Goddess Isis with Horus (26th Dynasty, 664-525 B.C.) were portrayed in a surprisingly similar manner. While psychologically detached from her child, the great pharaohs of the past shared an equal regard for the portrayal of their rightful heirs. Centuries later, the great Renaissance artists opted for a more intimate and nurturing scene. Michelangelo's Madonna of Bruges (1501-1504), a masterpiece of Western art, foreshadows her son's inevitable destiny. Lovingly holding his hand, she offers him temporary protection with her body. 

More recently, British contemporary artist Henry Moore explored the theme of mother and child through semi-abstract sculpture. Retaining primitive archetypal imagery, Draped Reclining Mother and Baby of 1983 clearly alludes to a gentle female body. As in Botero's Mother and Child, these works remind the viewer of the power of this innate relationship and its enduring place in society.