Pieta #3, oil on canvas, by George Lovett Kingsland Morris
 

In George L.K. Morris’ 1963 cubist rendition of the Pieta, the bodies of the Virgin Mary cradling Jesus are indistinguishable. The figurative sculpture by Michaelangelo of  Mary and Jesus is an iconic work of Christian art. Here the holy figures are depicted in the abstract with the outstretched arms of Mary and the reclining body of Christ represented as black forms suspended in linear space.

The term pieta means “lamentation.” In Morris' painting, the loss and sorrow are represented symbolically in the wide space between Mary’s arms and the void behind her. The painting appears in a small collection of images entitled Sacred Motherhood: Mother and Child representations from the Permanent Collection at the North Carolina Museum of Art between May 4, 2014 and December, 7, 2014.