16/12/2024
Advent Calendar, December 16
We leave Italy for Stockholm again.
Lena Cronqvist, Madonnan (The Madonna), 1969
Modern Museum, Stockholm
(The artwork is not on display now)
Using herself as her model, Lena Cronqvist, born 1938, builds psychologically intense scenes that seem to pinpoint the most universal experiences even when based on her own personal life. She explores family roles, such as being a child, sibling, parent, or life partner.Cronqvist belongs to a generation of artists who began highlighting the female narrative perspective in art in the late 1960s. This was a time when the feminist movement declared that the personal is political. In “The Madonna”, we see a mother with her infant in her arms, struggling to make ends meet.The title refers to Christian cult images where baby Jesus, the centre of the world, is depicted in the arms of his earthly mother.
More info about Lena Cronqvist: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena_Cronqvist