Ivan Antonovich Tikhiy (1927–1982) was a native of the Kharkiv region. He decided on his future profession at an early age. Already in 1947 he graduated from the Lugansk Art College, and in 1953 — from the Kiev State Art Institute. Ivan Antonovich did not stop at what he had achieved, he entered graduate school. Subsequently, the already famous artist became a teacher at the Department of Painting at his alma mater.

In his work, the master sought to reflect the uniqueness of the surrounding world, which is why his paintings resonate with the viewer. Ivan Tikhiy glorified the purity of maternal love in his 1957 painting “Motherhood.”

The painting by Ivan Antonovich Tikhiy from the collection of the Gorlovka Art Museum impresses with its size: it is more than two meters high and almost two meters wide. It was expensive to create such a large-scale work in the middle of the 20th century: there was not enough paint. But the master pursued his goal, he sought to create a picture that would be a hymn to the highest purpose of a woman.

To create realistic images, the artist needed models, and the best of them were in the maternity hospital. Getting permission to visit a Soviet maternity hospital for the sake of making a painting was not easy. Ivan Tikhiy painted each character separately, creating numerous studies, and then combined them into a group portrait.

Four preparatory studies and one sketch, which are also featured in the collection of the Gorlovka Art Museum, demonstrate how extensive the preparation for the creation of the painting “Motherhood” was. These works show the very course of the artist’s thought, his attempts to present his heroines to the viewer in different ways, as well as the search for the best construction of the composition.

It is no coincidence that Ivan Antonovich Tikhiy depicted bouquets of spring flowers on the windowsill. The master chose this particular season for his work, because the awakening of nature is consonant with the birth of a new life. Lighting plays an important role in the painting: sunlight is streaming from the window; like a halo, it is reflected in the hair of the heroines, elevating the woman-mother to a pedestal of purity and holiness.