VALIE EXPORT in Acts of Creation On Art and Motherhood review – all of life starts here
By Laura Cumming
Plunging into the joy, heartache, mystery and amazement of motherhood, more than 100 works by artists including Paula Rego, Chantal Joffe and Celia Paul offer a riveting riposte to the infamous pram in the hall.
“There is no more sombre enemy of good art,” wrote Cyril Connolly, notoriously, “than the pram in the hall.” Have kids, runs his supercilious maxim, and your creativity is well and truly screwed. The fact that great art has been made by parents for millennia seems not to have troubled him, nor the insult to those who give birth, or their babies. Not even, as this terrific Hayward Gallery touring exhibition shows, that procreation itself may be the vital inspiration.
Acts of Creation is riveting from first to last, an exceptional (and touring) anthology of contemporary artworks to startle, move and awe, all one hundred and more plunging deep into motherhood.
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Superbly curated by writer and critic Hettie Judah, with exceptional knowledge and sensibility, this show sets forth as many new names as established stars.
