Madonna of the Setting Sun
Eileen AGAR
(British, born Argentina, 1899 - 1991)
Madonna of the Setting Sun
Date1942
Mediumcollage with ink, watercolor and crayon
Dimensionsimage: 25 1/8 x 18 1/2 in. (63.8 x 47 cm)
overall: 25 1/2 x 19 in. (64.8 x 48.3 cm)
frame: 32 1/2 × 26 5/8 × 1 1/2 in. (82.6 × 67.6 × 3.8 cm)
ClassificationDRAWINGS
Credit LineSBMA, Museum purchase, London Collectors' Group Fund and the Mary and Leigh Block Fund
Object number1987.37.3
Subject(s)
- figure
- Sun
- Christianity
Collection
- European
- 20th century European
Sub-Collection(s)
- English
- British
On View
Not on viewCollections
Label Text
Because of its inherently associative and productively accidental properties, collage was a favored technique among the Surrealists. In this landscape, the setting sun with its ‘focus’ on industrial design technology poses the fundamental question of science as either the source of our salvation or our annihilation. Agar’s work frequently interrogated conventional roles ascribed to women, as in this deconstructed machine of mother and child.