100 Objects from Century of the Child

Gustav Klimt. Hope II. 1907-8 In Klimt’s painting of a pregnant woman, the unborn child as an embodiment of hope is complicated by unsettling allusions to death in the form of a skull nestling on her belly. The anxiety suggested by this imagery mirrored the intellectual and aesthetic ferment of Vienna at the turn of the century, above all the emergence of psychoanalysis and Sigmund Freud’s explorations of the child within every adult persona. The ornate decoration in Hope, II nearly overwhelms its surface. Klimt was committed to craftwork, and was among the many artists of his time who combined archaic traditions–here Byzantine gold leaf painting–with a modern psychological subject. Learn more at MoMA.org/centuryofthechild

Gustav Klimt. Hope II. 1907-8

In Klimt’s painting of a pregnant woman, the unborn child as an embodiment of hope is complicated by unsettling allusions to death in the form of a skull nestling on her belly. The anxiety suggested by this imagery mirrored the intellectual and aesthetic ferment of Vienna at the turn of the century, above all the emergence of psychoanalysis and Sigmund Freud’s explorations of the child within every adult persona. The ornate decoration in Hope, II nearly overwhelms its surface. Klimt was committed to craftwork, and was among the many artists of his time who combined archaic traditions–here Byzantine gold leaf painting–with a modern psychological subject.

Learn more at MoMA.org/centuryofthechild

09/21/12
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moma  Century of the Child  cotc  child  kids  art  design  Klimt 

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Get your daily dose of design from the MoMA exhibition Century of the Child: Growing by Design, 1900–2000. During each of the 100 days of the exhibition we will showcase an object featured in the show.

To find out more about Century of the Child visit MoMA.org/centuryofthechild.

Purchase the exhibition catalogue on MoMAStore.org or get the digital edition for the iPad on iTunes.

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