Acclaimed printer maker and sculptor Elizabeth Catlett was born on April 15, 1915, in Washington, D.C.
In a career spanning more than 70 years, Elizabeth Catlett has created sculptures that celebrate the heroic strength and endurance of African-American and Mexican working-class women.
Her politically charged works blend art and social consciousness, confronting disturbing injustices. Elizabeth Catlett has said that the purpose of her art is to "present black people in their beauty and dignity for ourselves and others to understand and enjoy." Enter the password that accompanies your username. She attended Lucretia Mott Elementary School, Dunbar High School and then Howard University School of Art where she graduated cum laude in 1936.
For Catlett, art was a tool for social and political change. The exhibition includes 20 prints and 14 sculptures by Catlett, as well as one print by her husband, Mexican artist Francisco Mora.Throughout her career Catlett used art in support of issues that mattered to her – freedom, race and ethnicity, feminism and maternalism – and fought oppression, racism, class and gender inequality. Acclaimed printer maker and sculptor Elizabeth Catlett was born on April 15, 1915, in Washington, D.C.
Learn more about Elizabeth Catlett, known for her powerful explorations of race, class, and female identity. With simple, clear shapes she evokes both the physical and spiritual essence of her subjects. Growing up with grandparents who had been slaves, she was very aware of the injustices against black women. The halo created by the brim of the sharecropper's sun hat, and the upward angle from which the viewer observes her, make the figure seem monumental. She used her art to advocate for social change for nearly 75 years. The Nation’s Largest African American Video Oral History Collection
Her hardy laborers and nurturing mothers radiate both power and a timeless dignity and calm. Elizabeth Catlett Mora was a prominent black political expressionist sculptor and printmaker in the 1960s and 1970s. Elizabeth Catlett's linoleum cut print "Sharecropper" (1957, printed in 1970) is an excellent example of Catlett's bold visual style and her print craftsmanship. When I visited Mexico and Modern Printmaking I was mildly surprised to see several African American artists represented in the exhibit. She explored themes of race, gender, and class, portraying not only injustices of slavery and discrimination but also showing strategies of empowerment. Growing up with grandparents who had been slaves, she was very aware of the injustices against black women.
An American and Mexican citizen, Catlett is best known for her depictions of African American women, the African American experience, and Mexican people who faced injustice. Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012), a sculptor and printmaker, is widely considered one of the most important African American artists of the 20th century. In 1952 she said, “I believe that art should come from the people and be for the people.” While living in Mexico, Catlett was not afraid to use her art to confront the plight of the Mexican worker, especially sharecroppers, as well as injustices against African Americans during the Jim Crow era.
The exhibition includes 20 prints and 14 sculptures by Catlett, as well as one print by her husband, Mexican artist Francisco Mora. Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012) is widely considered one of the most important African American artists of the 20th century.
After she became the first student to earn an MFA degree in sculpture from the University of Iowa in 1940, she studied ceramics at the Art Institute of Chicago and later in New York she studied lithography at the Art Students League. Catlett was born in Washington, DC, and attended Dunbar High School. Elizabeth Catlett, grandchild of freed slaves, was a Modernist artist, who worked with sculpture and printmaking.