PROVENANCE
Ex Private Collection, Europe

The tender domesticity of this fine painting by Mina Arndt makes it a special and rare example of her work. Though strikingly minimalist in its composition, Mother & Child possesses a gravitas which, by virtue of its gentle simplicity, renders the work endearingly compelling

Notably, the image of a mother cradling her child has not been presented against, or applied to an interior backdrop - rather, the integration of domestic space and the two figures depicted within it is thorough; each element exists in dialogue and oneness with the rest of the painting. This is enhanced by the cohesion of light and hue, and subtle tonal graduation across the room

To contextualise the production of this work, a brief overview of Arndt's career is necessary, for although the painting hasn't been precisely dated, a consideration of where it lands within the trajectory of her stylistic development offers insight

Further to the completion of her initial artistic training during 1905-6 at Wellington's Technical College, Arndt moved to London in 1907 with her mother and sisters. There she continued her art studies, one of her tutors being Frank Brangwyn Her descendants believe she also studied the Slade School of Fine Art. During her nearly eight years in Europe Mina Arndt spent several winters working in Cornwall and painting as did fellow New Zealanders, Margaret Stoddart and Frances Hodgkins. Time was spent in Berlin but we know that by 1913 Arndt was again in Cornwall and in the same year exhibiting at the Salon of the Société des Artistes Français in Paris

The painting's verso inscription affirms the work's Cornish origins, detailing the location as Trewarveneth Paul Penzance Cornwall where she studied under artist Stanhope Alexander Forbes (1857-1947) RA and founder of the Newlyn School. The subject matter is certainly consistent with the depictions of Cornish women which Arndt returned to time and time again throughout her career. Stylistically, Mother and Child belongs to a later point in Arndt's career, for it channels the expressionist technique of Arndt's Berlin-based teacher and mentor, Lovis Corinth. What we are therefore presented with in this work, is an exquisite combination of the artist's favoured subject matter with her mastery of Modernism