Elizabeth Catlett, Mexican and American, 1915 - 2012 Search this
Subject of:
Sojourner Truth, American, 1797 - 1883 Search this
Medium:
ink and graphite on paper
Dimensions:
H x W (image with title): 9 5/8 × 5 7/8 in. (24.4 × 15 cm)
H x W (image): 8 7/8 × 5 7/8 in. (22.5 × 15 cm)
H x W (sheet): 14 1/8 × 11 1/4 in. (35.9 × 28.6 cm)
Type:
linocuts
Place made:
Mexico City, Mexico, Latin America, North and Central America
Date:
1946-1947; 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:
This black and white linocut depicts Sojourner Truth. Shown from the waist up, she stands behind a lectern with an open book, perhaps a Bible, on top. She wears a dark striped dress with a light colored neckline or scarf around her neck. She has a light colored head wrap. Her right hand is raised with her index finger pointing upwards, and her left hand rests on the lectern. There is a handwritten title below the image in pencil. It is signed by the artist on the bottom right. The back is blank.
