Earth Mother

Carstenson, Cecil C.

1967

Artwork Information

  • Title:

    Earth Mother

  • Artist:

    Carstenson, Cecil C.

  • Artist Bio:

    American, 1906–1991

  • Date:

    1967

  • Medium:

    Curly robusta on walnut base

  • Dimensions:

    37 x 14 x 8

  • Credit Line:

    Wichita Art Museum, Gift of the artist and Blanche Carstenson

  • Object Number:

    1991.22

  • Display:

    Not Currently on Display

About the Artwork

The Earth Mother is a theme of basic life. She is primordial form. Many would think this piece is a modernistic glob, but there is a lot of anatomy in it despite its abstraction. It is pregnant, fertile, and full in the pelvic mass. The protrusions are female and fecund, of that there is no doubt. Formless as it may appear, the anatomy is there. If a line were dropped from the pit of the throat—and even that obscure area’s placement is fairly obvious—it would fall directly over the ankle. Anatomy lives, even in a bulbous Earth Mother.

                                                                                    Cecil Carstenson

                                                                                    The Craft and Creation of Wood Sculpture

                                                                                    Dover Publications, NY, 1981