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A vintage photo of Antonietta Raphael Mafai in her studio
'Creating' motherhood
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Raphael Mafai loved "Maternity" as a theme, but how did she see motherhood in practical terms? How did the artist known for overturning Mussolini's art canons in Rome during the interwar period bring up her own children? In an interview with journalist Adriana Giombarresi, Giulia Mafai describes her revolutionary artist-mom in this way: "My mother was a bit of a sorceress because she didn't know how to sew, she didn't do the dishes or know how to keep house. She would do things that were entirely different. She played music and painted, discussed philosophy and poetry and, she would argue about these subjects with my father. She was not a mother you could easily identify and you could not compare her to other mothers. She knew seven languages. Whenever she came home from one of her trips, for the first few days, she would speak a combined language." Is this unique studio photograph is tell-tale of the artists character?