(Kassa, Hungary, 1898 - 1974, Royal Oak, Michigan)
1937
Egg tempera on fiberboard
36 1/4 x 30 in. (92.2 x 76.2 cm)
Collection of the Akron Art Museum
Anonymous gift
1952.2
Zoltan Sepeshy was noted for his mastery of tempera painting, a centuries-old and labor-intensive technique most often associated with Medieval and early renaissance European art. The subject of 'Young Mother' also relates to a long history of depicting mothers with their children in art, including Christian icons of the Madonna and Child. While historically rich, this portrait of a mother with her child also reflects the contemporary nature of Sepeshy’s imagery. Painted during the Great Depression, the mother’s clothing and surroundings are typical of 1930s America. At that time, Sepeshy was resident-artist at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, located outside of Detroit, where he began teaching painting in 1926. He preferred to paint scenes from daily life and believed that the artist “brings past and future into the present moment.”