Gethsemane 1957

Carol Summers made this print, Gethsemane, likely in the mid-20th century, using bold, dark ink on paper. The composition immediately strikes you with its stark contrast and weighty forms, evoking a sense of solemnity. The large, dark circle at the top, framed by curling shapes, dominates the upper register, creating a visual tension with the fragmented, geometric forms massed below. Summers’s abstraction pushes against conventional representation. If we consider it through a semiotic lens, the shapes become signs – the circle perhaps a sun or eclipse, the geometric forms a landscape or figure. Yet, these signs resist easy interpretation. The rough texture and imperfect printing lend a tactile quality, reminding us of the artist's hand and the materiality of the printmaking process. This emphasis on form invites us to contemplate the artwork’s visual structure and to understand how the artist's choices reflect broader artistic and philosophical concerns, destabilizing our expectations of traditional religious imagery.