A very different take on motherhood — art by women (not old masters)

There are many reasons to enjoy — or in my case to love — Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood at the Arnolfini gallery in Bristol. The show is an in-depth examination of the relationship between mothers and their children, as seen by female artists from the 1970s to now. So it delves into the deepest human territory there is: the bearing of babies. Without which none of us would be here.

Of course, there are already plenty of mothers and children in art. The countless versions we have of the Madonna cradling Jesus might even lead us to believe the topic has been extensively tackled. It has. But only by men. The outside view is familiar. The inside view, a woman’s view, is