Pietà

Wiktorya J. Gorynska, 1929

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Artist: Wiktorya J. Gorynska (Polish, 1902–1945)
Medium: Wood engraving
Culture: Poland, 20th century
Museum: Cleveland Museum of Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

Twentieth-century artists, particularly those seeking to express religious feeling, often turned to Renaissance works of art as models. Although in reverse, the composition of this 20th-century pietà bears strong resemblance to Michelangelo’s 1498 sculpture. Both compositions are deeply mournful, capturing the sorrow of the mother's loss of her child, even while Wiktorya Gorynska’s print displays aspects of modern art such as flattened space and simplified, abstract forms. Gorynska added unique elements, such as the striped shroud and the kneeling figure of Saint John the Evangelist at left.