Portrait of the Artist's Mother 

Curator: Gazing at this portrait, my first thought is "weathered"—a landscape etched by time. Editor: And the portrait is of the artist's mother. It's an interesting example of Oskar Stossel's work, rendered as a print—a kind of delicate pencil and charcoal drawing on toned paper. It’s like a memory surfacing. Curator: Exactly. I find it both intimate and distanced. There's a tangible vulnerability in the soft lines depicting her face. Almost as though Stossel is capturing her essence right before it dissolves. Editor: Portraits, especially those of mothers, carry heavy social and personal weight. Here, I think about the maternal figure as a source of strength but also potential fragility in patriarchal societies. The lines of age become a roadmap of lived experience, often overlooked and devalued. Curator: Absolutely. The absence of colour concentrates the gaze on the subtle play of light and shadow, evoking a strong emotional pull, wouldn't you say? I imagine Stossel peering at his mother with absolute tenderness, almost a prayer. Editor: Indeed. Considering the prevalence of maternal portraiture through art history, from Whistler’s Mother to countless Madonnas, these depictions reveal more about societal perceptions than the subjects themselves. This Stossel begs the question, what does it mean to truly *see* one's mother? Is it possible to disentangle the personal from the cultural? Curator: It feels like he truly saw *her*. The drawing is both simple and reverent. I mean, the lack of any background allows the portrait to hover in time... a bit like how memories float up! Editor: That floating sensation emphasizes how portraits immortalize, freezing someone within a specific gaze and historical frame. How can we honour a lived life instead of idealizing representation? That’s something I’m left wondering. Curator: Well, it does that. He offers his mum immortality. He captures the fleeting feeling of seeing her in the golden autumn of her life. Editor: For me, Oskar Stossel’s “Portrait of the Artist's Mother” invites us to meditate on visibility, aging, and the enduring impact of maternal figures—rendered visible.