Motherhood in Full Form

A notable new arrival now graces Westmont’s campus: Maternity, a nearly 2,000-pound bronze sculpture by renowned South American artist Fernando Botero. The Santa Barbara Museum of Art has loaned the work to Westmont from the collection of the late Lady Leslie Ridley-Tree.

Standing about nine feet tall, the piece – in Botero’s self-definitive style of exaggerated proportions – now sits at the base of the staircase between the Whittier Science Building and the Adams Center for the Visual Arts, leading up to the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art.

“Botero’s Maternity explores the emotional and symbolic depth of motherhood through his distinctive, rounded aesthetic,” says Chris Rupp, director of the Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art. “It’s both an homage to the maternal figure and a meditation on the life-giving power of women. The theme of motherhood is universal, and Botero’s treatment makes it tender, reverent and deeply human. Personally, I see echoes of classical representations of the Madonna and Child, a theme especially fitting for Westmont.”

Born and raised in Colombia before moving to France in 1973, Botero is celebrated worldwide for his paintings and sculptures in the instantly recognizable style known as Boterismo – marked by voluminous, abundant forms. His works are held in major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., the Art Institute of Chicago and numerous museums around the globe.

The Westmont museum opens Thursday, Sept. 4 for Lines of Inquiry: Westmont Art Faculty Exhibition with a free, public opening reception from 4-6 pm.