Artist Henry R. DiSpirito (1898 - 1995)

Praying Mantis

Date1955

DimensionsOverall: 13 3/4 × 17 × 15 1/2 in. (34.9 × 43.2 × 39.4 cm)

Object numberN0010.2008(01)

Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Dolores A. DiSpirito, Theresa M. DiSpirito, and Loretta DiSpirito Loconto

Photograph by Richard Walker

Label TextOne night, while walking on Bleecker Street in Utica, DiSpirito found a praying mantis on a shop window. Fascinated with the insect, he took it home, made a quick model of it out of clay, and let it go. He then carved this long, narrow fieldstone into a greatly magnified version of the small bug. DiSpirito preferred weather-worn fieldstones that he found in nearby riverbeds, and found ample subject matter in the insects in his yard, people he met and admired, and animals observed at the Utica Zoo or on his fishing excursions.

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