Sculptor Sargent Johnson moved to San Francisco in 1915, studied at the California School of Fine Arts (later the San Francisco Art Institute), and was awarded numerous national art prizes and fellowships. He worked for the WPA Federal Art Project, an important source of commissions and financial support for artists during the Great Depression, and created monumental sculptures for the 1939–1940 Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay.

Drawing inspiration from Harlem Renaissance artists such as Aaron Douglas and from Mexican Social Realists such as Diego Rivera, Johnson frequently depicted Black subjects. However, he also absorbed styles and techniques from West African, Ancient American, and Asian fine art and folk sculpture to create a more universal modernist aesthetic. Standing Woman, which depicts a robed woman with crossed arms and closed eyes, incorporates streamlined and stylized forms that mediate between representation and abstraction.