Elizabeth Catlett, Mexican and American, 1915 - 2012 Search this
Medium:
ink and graphite on paper
Dimensions:
H x W (image with title): 6 3/4 × 6 3/8 in. (17.1 × 16.2 cm)
H x W (image): 6 3/8 × 6 3/8 in. (16.2 × 16.2 cm)
H x W (sheet): 12 5/16 × 10 1/8 in. (31.3 × 25.7 cm)
Type:
linocuts
Date:
1946; printed 1989
Caption:
I wanted to show the history and strength of all kinds of Black women. Working women, country women, great women in the history of the United States. — Elizabeth Catlett
Elizabeth Catlett was a versatile sculptor and printmaker committed to making art that promoted women, family, community, and equality. In 1946, she received a Julius Rosenwald Foundation Grant to travel and study in Mexico City. There, she worked with the Taller de Gráphica Popular (People’s Graphic Arts Workshop), a printmaking collective primarily dedicated to the production of sociopolitical art. During her stay, she completed The Negro Woman. This narrative series of prints embodies a first-person perspective of Black women, imparting a sense of intimacy and resilience as the viewer navigates a variety of images relating to resilience, heroism, and the ongoing struggle for racial justice.
Description:
Black and white linocut of passengers on a bus. The first bus seat in the foreground has a [COLORED ONLY] sign at the top. There are four unidentified women seated behind this sign. The central woman in front is wearing a textured jacket. The title is handwritten in graphite below the image and the work is signed. The reverse is blank.
