MODOK, Mária
(1896, Ráckeve - 1971, Budapest)

Family

c. 1937
Oil on canvas, 95 x 75 cm
Ferenczy Museum, Szentendre

From the mid-1930s Mária Modok's interest turned to the representation of proletarian mothers and children. Two of her large compositions have been preserved from this epoch of her art. In her composition entitled 'Proletarian Mother' the viewer can see three children, while in her painting 'Family' four children around the monumental figure of the mother standing in the canon of proportion. While the colour scheme of the 'Proletarian Mother' from an earlier date is built on the subtle harmony of blues, purples and pinks beside the black colour, the darker-toned composition of the 'Family' - made around 1937 - is dominated by the shades of brown and ochre. The compositional arrangement of the 'Proletarian Mother' the smallest of the three children is emphasised by sitting in her mother's arm. Each figure is positioned so as to face the viewer. In the 'Family' the artist has used more variations in composing the faces, one next to the other. She apparently borrowed some of the settings of the profile and facing countenances of the four children, arranged around the mother facing the viewer, from her previous double portraits (Two Children, 1934; In a Pair, around 1936) and she depicted some of them with greater emphasis on the structure. The artist has alloyed here in a unique manner the results of her previous cubist experiments with forms with decorativeness and social sensitivity in terms of content.


Please send your comments, sign our guestbook and send a postcard.
Created and maintained by Emil Krén and Dániel Marx; sponsored by the T-Systems Hungary Ltd.