Art & illustration
Divine Mother Hubbard’s (Existential) Nursery Rhyme Picture Book
E Zapotek & Divine Mother Hubbard
A mysterious artist’s book built around thirty-six painted reimaginings of nursery rhymes.
Find a copyAbout the book
In 2008, the Idiosynchronism conceptualist movement was joined anonymously by an artist working under the pseudonym The Divine Mother Hubbard.
The artist created thirty-six paintings, each based on a different nursery rhyme, in a consistent 50 by 70 centimetre format and largely in blue-brown, described as the colours of sky and earth.
The artist behind the pseudonym
The Divine Mother Hubbard joined Idiosynchronism anonymously and declined to reveal gender, age or real name, citing a wish not to embarrass relatives, friends, gallery or agent. The artist described a background in established art schools before the outbreak of the last Great War.
The account records encounters with artists including David Hockney, Francis Bacon and Stuart Brisley, while the thirty-six nursery-rhyme paintings remain the centre of this enigmatic project.
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