Mother and Child
Sculptor: Portsmouth, Percy Herbert, RSA · 1874-1953
Portsmouth and his wife married in 1903 but never had a family of their own.
Despite this the themes of Baby studies and Mother and Child groups were revisited countless times during Portsmouth's career and show a sensitivity and empathy with the subject.
His first exhibited "Mother and Child" group was at the RGIFA Annual Exhibition in 1914(30) and there was a further burst of creativity around the theme between 1939 and 1945.
He also deployed the mother and child theme to represent Peace in a number of the War Memorials which he designed and the timings of his focus on the mother and child theme correlates with the periods of both the First and Second World Wars.
The present piece echoes in its general composition (though fully draped and without the child) and art deco feel, the bronze seated female figure which Portsmouth designed for the headstone to his wife in St Mary's Churchyard, Rushden and before which he too is buried.
Additional details
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Object data
Date c.1919 - c.1938 Accession 2025.0019 Type Sculpture Plaster Materials Medium Plaster Dimensions 32.8cm x 9.5cm x 22cm Acquisition Gift Stanley, Halina -
Exhibitions
No exhibition data for this record.
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