In the San Francisco Bay Area, Chiura Obata was the most prominent practitioner of the modern nihonga (Japanese painting) movement, which sought to reconcile the practices of traditional Japanese and contemporary European schools of art. Accompanied by his wife, Haruko Kohashi, who helped to introduce ikebana (the art of flowers arrangement) to the Bay Area, Obata gave hundreds of public lectures and demonstrations that introduced audiences to Japanese art and aesthetics.

Obata's "Mother Earth" depicts his young wife, Haruko, during her pregnancy. She stands in a grove of redwood trees, her long, dark hair covering her body. The title evokes nature, fertility, maternity, and the cycles and seasons of life. The subject is Japanese, but as Obata observed, "Above the border line of nationality everybody must feel a deep appreciation toward Mother Earth." Although his wife serves as his model, Obata transforms this personal subject into a universal ode to nature.