Pioneer Woman
Object NameSculpture
Artist / Maker
Christian Petersen
(Danish - American, 1885 - 1961)
Date1938
OriginU.S.A.
MediumPlaster
Dimensions23 x 7 x 6 in. (58.4 x 17.8 x 15.2 cm)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineGift of Patricia Bliss. In the Christian Petersen Art Collection, Christian Petersen Art Museum, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
Object numberum89.19
Status
Not on viewCultureAmerican
Label TextThis sculpture was inspired by a cemetery burial ceremony Petersen saw in Kentucky. He was moved by the solitary figure of an American pioneer woman, clad in a long prairie dress, standing resolutely at the graveside of her husband. In the late 1930s Petersen witnessed a widow standing over her husband’s grave in mourning; Charlotte explained that her husband “shared the woman’s grief and couldn’t get that image out of his mind.”
Locations
- (not entered) Iowa State University, Christian Petersen Art Museum
Object Name: Portrait Bust
Christian Petersen
1934
Object number: U89.39
