Toy Pieta (work of art)
Artwork Info
Key Ideas
- This large-scale oil painting depicts the artist’s family, including himself. He is the seated figure in the background.
- This is an example of a figurative painting, a type of art that depicts real-world subjects in a realistic way. The style of this painting was inspired by Italian baroque art.
- The title and the composition of this work are references to an iconic image of motherhood in art history known as the pietà. The pietà depicts the Virgin Mary cradling the body of Jesus. Michelangelo’s Pietà is a famous statue of this image.
- Scott Avett is a North Carolina artist, musician, and songwriter. He is one of the lead singers in the band The Avett Brothers.
- Avett’s self-portraits and portraits of his wife and children explore his personal life experiences.
Learn More
Scott Avett is a painter and printmaker who grew up in rural North Carolina. He is also a musician, songwriter, and singer in the folk-rock band The Avett Brothers, which he co-founded with his younger brother Seth. His first solo museum exhibition at the NCMA, Scott Avett: INVISIBLE, featured large-scale oil paintings that depict himself and his family. Toy Pieta was featured in this exhibition.
I rely on exploiting my own personal relationships with my family, because . . . it’s what I know, and I just trust that it is relatable because it’s a human experience.
Scott Avett
Avett’s intimate portrayals of himself and his family in his art are inspired by his own experiences of marriage, parenthood, and living in the South. In this painting Avett depicts his wife Sarah, surrounded by their children, and himself as a seated figure in the background. The work is painted in an Italian baroque-inspired style, which features deep colors, dramatic lighting, defined shadows, and a dark background.
The title and composition of this painting refer to an iconic image of motherhood that can be found throughout art history. This imagery, known as the pietà (Italian for “pity” or “compassion”), represents the Virgin Mary cradling the body of Jesus after he was crucified. In Christian art this image of a mother holding her son is considered to be a symbol of love, loss, and hope. One of the most famous works of art that portrays this image is Michelangelo’s sculpture, Madonna della Pietà (also known as the Pietà). Michelangelo carved the sculpture of Mary holding Jesus from a single block of Carrara marble between 1498 and 1500. In Avett’s Toy Pieta, his wife cradles their son on her lap in a similar position.
Avett earned a BFA in studio art from East Carolina University in 2000. In 2002 he opened an art gallery in the city of Concord, North Carolina, where he lives with his wife and their children.
Additional Resources
Resources for Teachers
- Read an article about Scott Avett’s first solo exhibition at the NCMA.
- Read an interview in which the artist talks about his North Carolina roots.
- Explore an essay and video about Michelangelo’s Pietà.
Resources for Students
- Watch a video of Scott Avett explaining why he paints portraits of his family.
- Explore a virtual gallery of Avett’s paintings.
- View Michelangelo’s sculpture, Madonna della Pietà (also known as the Pietà).
Images
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Toy Pieta
A large-scale oil painting of a woman with long blond hair, seated outdoors in a blue-green chair and holding a sleeping boy in her lap. There are three other children playing beside and behind her. In the background an adult male figure is seated in the shadows, on the porch of white house. There are children’s toys scattered on a wooden plank floor in the foreground, including building blocks that spell out "TOY PIETA".