Mother Dürer
Robert Arneson was one of the primary ceramic artists of the California "Funk" movement working in northern California in the 1960s and 1970s. These artists took ceramics out of the vessel format, using clay as a tool to make statements about popular culture. The works were frequently satirical commentaries and Arneson often used his own portrait to complete the irony. This work, however, is based on a 1514 drawing that the great German artist Albrecht Dürer made of his mother two months before she died. Arneson's monumental portrait comments on contemporary notions of feminine beauty and the harshness of physical decay.
Artwork Details
- Title: Mother Dürer
- Designer: Robert Arneson (American, Benica, California 1930–1992 Benica, California)
- Date: 1979
- Medium: Glazed earthenware
- Dimensions: 33 in. × 24 1/2 in. × 18 1/2 in. (83.8 × 62.2 × 47 cm)
- Classification: Ceramics-Pottery
- Credit Line: Gift of Joyce and Jay Cooper, 2000
- Object Number: 2000.649a,b
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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