STELLA SHAWZIN | Nursing Mother II
Bronze
17 x 38 x 21 cms / 7 x 15 x 8 inches
In Nursing Mother II, Stella Shawzin distils the essence of maternal tenderness into pure sculptural form. The smooth, curving lines of the reclining figure and child merge into one continuous flow, expressing unity and protection without the need for facial expression or detail. Shawzin’s sensitivity to material, here a warm-toned stone that echoes the softness of human touch, lends the composition both physical weight and emotional intimacy. Rooted in modernist abstraction, her sculpture bridges the universal and the personal, capturing the quiet strength and serenity of motherhood through a language of timeless simplicity.
Best known for her monumental sculptures that seem to defy gravity despite being made of bronze or marble, Stella Shawzin created a fascinating body of work that shines a light on the secrets of the human form with great detail and tenderness.
Shawzin worked on both a monumental and an intimate scale. Regardless of their size, all her sculptures are sensual expressions of the human form, a celebration of its full range of movement.
Throughout her career, Shawzin worked with a variety of media – bronze, marble, metal, wood and was intimately involved in every stage of their creative process. From her visits to the marble quarries at Carrara, to the building of her own foundry at her Cape Town studio, Stella Shawzin oversaw the execution of each artwork from conception to completion.
Shawzin passed away in 2020, at the age of one-hundred, leaving an incredible sculptural legacy as a key practitioner of South African modern art.
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