The Eternal Mother, seated with arms outstretched, casts a stern, sorrowful look at visitors who enter the west doors of the Art Museum. Flanking her are two standing female figures: one representing Compassion, reaching down to comfort a stricken youth collapsed at her feet; and another that personifies Succor (or Death), supporting at the hips a young man who bends backward to embrace her shoulders. The entire group by Jacob Epstein suggests not only the tenderness and sympathy of humankind but also the affliction that makes these virtues necessary.

Epstein was one of the first Westerners to develop a deep appreciation of "primitive" and traditional art. He displayed a particular interest in images of maternity and fertility. His career was punctuated by controversy, however, and his public commissions often prompted such adjectives as "ugly," "vulgar," and "vile."

The commission for Social Consciousness was awarded to Epstein in 1950 by the Fairmount Park Art Association, which wanted to include in the Samuel Memorial a work expressing the American ideal of brotherhood. But as the massive sculpture took shape, the artist and the Art Association realized that the planned site in the Samuel Memorial could not accommodate the work. Instead, Social Consciousness was installed in 1955 at the west entrance of the Art Museum, where it has upheld Epstein's reputation for controversy. Some critics have complained that the figures look unnatural; others have objected to the lack of strong visual unity among the three separate groups. On the other hand, the work has been praised for its amalgamation of Western and Eastern influences and its "hieratic" stylization that suggests a timeless emotion. It could be argued that the very awkwardness of the figures emphasizes the precariousness and suffering of the human condition.

Adapted from Public Art in Philadelphia by Penny Balkin Bach (Temple University Press, Philadelphia, 1992).