Explore modern and contemporary works of art in dialogue with the Foundling Museum’s historic collection. This landmark exhibition presents an opportunity to explore the Museum’s historic collection in a new light.
Image credit - Sonia Gomes, Trouxa, 2004. Ursula Hauser Collection, Switzerland © Sonia Gomes. Image: Courtesy of Sonia Gomes, Mendes Wood DM São Paulo, Brussels, New York. Photograph: Stefan Altenburger Photography Zürich.
The Mother & The Weaver takes the unseen mother, a central part of the Foundling Museum’s story, as a point of departure to explore complex ideas around motherhood, childhood, love, loss, sexuality and identity. Occupying the whole museum, this landmark exhibition shows over 40 works from the Ursula Hauser Collection, all by women artists, in conversation with historic objects and works of art from the Foundling Museum’s collection.
Image credit - Sylvia Sleigh, Working at Home, 1969, Ursula Hauser Collection, Switzerland © The Estate of Sylvia Sleigh Image: Courtesy the Estate of Sylvia Sleigh and Ursula Hauser Collection, Switzerland. Photographer: Stefan Altenburger
The exhibition presents modern and contemporary works of art in a variety of media, including painting, textiles, sculpture, video and works on paper. The internationally-celebrated artists on display include Louise Bourgeois, Marlene Dumas, Luchita Hurtado, Maria Lassnig, Sonia Gomes and Pipilotti Rist.
Image credit - Marlene Dumas, Diagonal Child, 1991, Ursula Hauser Collection, Switzerland © Marlene Dumas. Courtesy the artist and Ursula Hauser Collection, Switzerland
Maternal presence or absence, and the complex emotions that each arouses, informs many of the works in the exhibition. Others are more suggestive, hinting at complex histories of displacement and fractured identity. Themes and ideas around what it means to be a ‘good’ mother or woman, explored in the contemporary works, take on new and forceful meanings in the context of the Foundling Museum.
By presenting these works in juxtaposition with the Museum’s collection, visitors are invited to explore its stories with fresh eyes.
Supported by Taylor Wessing and The 1739 Club.
Exhibiting until - Until 18 February 2024
For further details: https://foundlingmuseum.org.uk/event/the-mother-and-the-weaver/