Mother and Daughter

It is March, so we continue our celebrations of Women's History Month with this subtle painting created by one of the most exquisite artists of the Harlem Renaissance, Laura Wheeler Waring.

Mother and Daughter is one of the most direct confrontations by a prominent Black artist of this era with the controversial subject of racially mixed families. Its mere existence challenged the silence surrounding the topic within certain parts of society. Waring incorporated modernist techniques inspired by Alain Locke, an American writer, philosopher, and educator, in her depiction of a Black mother and her white-presenting daughter. Rather than focusing on them as individual figures, she portrayed them as generalized types, symbolizing the widespread reality of racially mixed families. By simplifying their almost identical facial features into profiles, Waring highlighted the central theme of the painting, expressed through its title and most striking feature: the contrasting skin tones, which signal the vastly different social experiences the subjects would face due to racial divisions.

P.S. Are you familiar with our Women Artists 50 Postcards Set? Waring is also featured in there, so if you're a fan I highly encourage you to buy it now with a 25% discount.  :) 

P.P.S. Read more about the Harlem Renaissance, which enabled African American citizens to express themselves in their art as never before!