Art

Art Travel Guide

Brooklyn Museum Honors Extraordinary Mothers

For the first time ever at the Brooklyn Museum, mothers are honored in a brunch and tour — “Extraordinary Women: Celebrating Mothers and Motherhood in Art through the Ages,” to be given on Mother’s Day on May 8. The tour features some of its most famous artworks, from ancient to modern periods.

Mary Cassatt is among one of the more well-known women artists to be shown on the first time tour. The museum carries 19 paintings in its collection of the artist, but among the most famous to show is Woman in a Red Bodice and Her Child. The same model featured in this work is also present in Cassatt’s Breakfast in Bed. Known for her prominence with the French Impressionists, Cassatt was at first consistently rejected from the Salon as she chooses not to take a male patron or protector.

Lilly Martin Spencer is one of the extraordinary women artists showcased in the tour. Spencer was the mother of thirteen children, of whom only seven lived, and the sole breadwinner for the family. Though they lived an unconventional and financially troubled lifestyle, the family was happy and Spencer is and was then a well-known artist. Among Spencer’s famous works to be shown will be her 1856 Kiss Me and You’ll Kiss the ‘Lasses.

More information about the event can be found at the website of the Brooklyn Museum. Tickets are sold out for the tour, but there’s always next year, which is certain to be even more spectacular! The Elizabeth A. Sackler Center For Feminist Art at the museum will also feature two series about empowering women and art. “Academic Symposium: From Portraits to Pin-ups: Representations of Women in Art and Popular Culture” will take place on May 14th starting at 11:30 A.M. Art historian Dr. Gail Levin will discuss her most recent book, Lee Krasner: A Biography, on May 15th at 2 P.M. If you are still looking for a Mother’s Day present, check out the most popular oil paintings for the occasion!