Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Preview image of work. pastel on paper, Cushion 44063

2021.60.1

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Cushion

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Artist

Wendy V. Edwards (active 1950 – )

Title

Cushion

Creation Date

1984

Century

20th century

Dimensions

41 3/4 x 29 11/16 in. (106.05 x 75.41 cm)

Object Type

pastel

Creation Place

North America, United States, Rhode Island

Medium and Support

pastel on paper

Credit Line

Gift of the Artist

Copyright

This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s Copyright Terms and Conditions.

Accession Number

2021.60.1

Cushions provide comfort for weary bodies. To cushion is to soften some type of pain or negative effect. Wendy Edwards has used pastel throughout her artistic career to create work that straddles the line between abstraction and figuration. Cushion demonstrates this tendency, as the composition shifts between an undulating abstract form and the representation of two bodies pressed up against each other. In this work, the two bodies begin to meld together, to become something else, inviting conversation about what it means to cushion another. Born in Virginia, Edwards served for forty years as a professor of visual art at Brown University until her retirement in 2020.