Maternity

1939
Charcoal drawing on board
87 x 68 cm
Signed and dated lower left : George Minne / 1939

+32 (0)9 281 11 70

A tender, introspective embrace lies at the heart of this work: the child is almost sculpturally enclosed within the mother’s arms. The elongated limbs, soft diagonals, and simplified faces convey Minne’s characteristic stillness and inward emotion. The compact, triangular composition reinforces the protective gesture, while the velvety charcoal surface lends the drawing a warm, almost sacred intimacy.
This sheet belongs to Minne’s late exploration of the mother-and-child theme in the late 1930s and echoes the ascetic elegance of his sculpture, notably the rhythm of the Kneeling Youths. Related drawings and studies of maternity are preserved in Belgian museum collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts (MSK) in Ghent and the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels; comparable introspective depictions of motherhood can also be found in the Minne ensemble at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp.

Baron George Minne 1866-1941, Latemse Kunstkring, Sint-Martens-Latem, 19.06-10.07.1966, cat. 47.

Chabot, G. & R. Van den Abeele, Baron George Minne 1866-1941, exh. cat. (Sint-Martens-Latem: Latemse Kunstkring, 1966), 26, cat. 47.