Mère et son enfant 2018

Cricorps painted ‘Mère et son enfant’, sometime after 1953, probably with oils. The shapes feel provisional, the painting is all broken down into facets, like a cubist painting, but one where the forms have almost been stitched together. The colors are layered, and it feels like they've been built up in sections, with the darker outlines coming last. I'm drawn to the warmth in the painting, the yellows and oranges, which evoke a sense of maternal affection and comfort. Notice how the artist outlines everything in dark paint, like stained glass, emphasizing the figures' forms against the fragmented background. This area of dark outline feels really important because it pulls everything together. Looking at this, I can’t help but think of Picasso, but also maybe Milton Avery, in the way it simplifies and abstracts the human form, it feels part of an ongoing dialogue within painting, reaching back and forward in time. Like with all art, this piece offers a space for interpretation and reflection, more than any fixed message.