Endeavor (Reductive Gestures)
2020

a series of 9 sculptures
terracotta, wood, iron
23 x 16 x 16 cm (each)

During Hurkmans’ research on Michelangelo’s marble Pietà in the St. Peter’s Basilica, she came across a terracotta Pietà that was found in 1998 and attributed to Michelangelo in 2018. This terracotta sculpture was made in the years before the marble Pietà was finished in 1499 and, as such, helped in the process of working towards the masterpiece.

The terracotta sculpture was of interest to Hurkmans because also the arm of this Pietà was broken off, like the marble one during the attack in 1972. In recent photos of the terracotta Pietà, Mary’s elbow ends in a hole in the forearm but the sculpture was found with a wooden prosthesis from the 19th century sticking out of the hole.

With Pietà, A Reconsideration of the Gesture, Hurkmans explores Mary’s gesture in all its forms and meanings. Before the arm was broken, Mary’s arm was reaching out as an open invitation. In her own Pietà terracotta sculptures, Hurkmans transforms the gesture with a wooden prosthesis for each Pietà in the Endeavor series. In this way, she probes what the gesture can be, as a possible extension of needs and feelings, ranging from loving and sorrow to offensive and defensive gestures.