(by Nicoletta Castagni).
An exhibition exploring the sacred and archetypal aspects of motherhood and its fundamental role in Mediterranean culture will be at the Parma Governor's Palace from March 8 to June 28.
A selection of 170 works from over 170 prestigious museums will be on show, with archaeological and artistic masterpieces by such greats as Pinturicchio, Veronese, Moretto, Giacometti, Pistoletto and Bill Viola worth a total of about 100 million euros. 'Mater. Maternity in Art', promoted by the Parma municipality, was the brainchild of Elena Fontanella and curated by Annamaria Andreoli, Elena Fontanella and Cosimo Damiano Fonseca. The exhibit aims to explore the mysteries of life and procreation as they are portrayed in art, in an itinerary that deals with and illustrates symbols of motherhood as humans have created, perceived and described them. Subdivided into four sections, the exhibition begins with the prehistoric figurines of steatopygian mother-goddesses and those from Greek and Roman mythology.
Here viewers will encounter, among others, the Venus of Savignano (on loan from Rome's Pigorini Museum), the Ephesian Artemis (from the Vatican Museums), frescoes from Pompeii, a tablet with a birth scene from the first century AD (from the Naples Archaeology Museum), a basalt bust of the goddess Isis from Florence's Egyptian Museum, and an extraordinary third century BC statue of Persephone from the Lucera Civic Museum.
The show then moves on to a turning point in the representation of motherhood, when the 325 AD Council of Nicea convened by the Roman Emperor Constantine I, when Christian bishops recognized Mary as the mother of God. Alongside Byzantine icons, in this section the masterpieces cover the 14th to the 17th centuries, with Virgin and Child works by Rosso Fiorentino, Filippo Lippi, Andrea Mantegna, Pinturicchio, Tiepolo, and Veronese.
The next section is titled From Holy to Bourgeois Motherhood, and explores the transformation of the family in the 19th century. The exhibit ends with the 20th century, in which the figure of an abstract mother enclosed in her sacred femininity was replaced with the image of a woman who has freed herself from the exclusive condition of motherhood and is in real, constant struggle with daily life. The modern expressive search for a new female archetype is seen in works by Mimmo Rotella, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Max Kuatty, Bill Viola, Mat Collishaw and Crepex's character Valentina.
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