Maternity

1979

Llew Summers

Accessible

Type

  • Sculpture

Medium

  • Concrete

Dimensions

  • H2640 x W1220 x D1950mm

Llew Summers, ‘Maternity’ (1977), Upper Hutt Railway Station, Te Awa Kairangi ki Uta Upper Hutt

Images: Bronwyn Holloway-Smith, Public Art Heritage Aotearoa New Zealand, 2021

1979–Current

Upper Hutt Station, Fergusson Drive, Te Awa Kairangi ki Uta Upper Hutt

Artists
Credit

Collection of Upper Hutt City Council. Presented to the City of Upper Hutt in recognition of The Year of The Child 1979

Associated Artwork Organisation(s)

Description

'Maternity' demonstrates the increasing confidence in Llew Summers' modelling of human form. John Newton has written "[t]he figure represents, not a strictly lifelike person, but a set of idealised maternal values: nurture, foundation, protection, solidity, calm.”

Completed in 1977, Summers initially hoped Christchurch City Council would purchase the piece. When the Council failed to respond Summers took the step of depositing the sculpture in Cathedral Square. The work stayed for two months and caused a furore of criticism.

Subsequently the Upper Hutt Arts Festival 1979, dedicated to the ‘Year of the Child’ and organised by Tony Ryan (Summers' brother-in-law), decided Llew’s work was thematically appropriate. The Upper Hutt Council agreed to pay $2500 for the work and it was trained from Christchurch to Upper Hutt.

~ Cited from John Newton. Llew Summers : Body and Soul. Canterbury University Press 2020.