Maternity

"Maternity" is an universal theme, depicted in all cultures since the earliest times. Wood is especially suitable for sculpting maternity subjects, because of the ease by which it may be shaped, and for its sensuous surface texture. Our collection of African maternity sculptures is drawn from many different tribal cultures, each of which used a style and expression uniquely their own, which has been passed-down through history and is instantly recognizable.
From around the beginning of the last century, "primitive" or "tribal" art became a source of inspiration for Western artists. Henri Matisse acquired African art and used its forms in his work. M. de Vlaminck and A. Derain were the early "discoverers" and promoters of tribal art, along with Paul Guillaume, whose emphasis was on Africa. By the 1920's, West African "spiritual" art was being studied and collected by many artists including Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Jacob Epstein, Juan Gris, Modigliani, Brancusi, Henry Moore, Paul Klee, Giacometti, Jacques Lipchitz and many others. Significantly it was African sculpture which inspired these and so many other Western artists and sculptors, helping to create "primitivism", modernism, cubism, and surrealism. More recently a new generation of artists, including Richard Serra, Georg Baselitz, Bruce Marden, Ellsworth Kelly and Francisco Clemente have become collectors of African art.