Black History Month Spotlight: Elizabeth Catlett

Elizabeth Catlett. Sharecropper. 1970. Color linocut on cream Japanese paper. The Art Institute of Chicago.

As a child, Catlett saw her own grandparents who were sharecroppers living and working in extreme poverty. Under the South’s racist farming system, they continued to be exploited long after slavery’s end. Catlett was interested in restoring dignity and humanity to her subjects. Here, the viewer looks up at the subject as someone to be respected and venerated.

Catlett was a graduate of Howard University and among the first black women artists to gain national prominence. Although she trained as a sculptor, she concentrated on printmaking when she moved to Mexico in 1946 on a grant from the Rosenwald Foundation.

Elizabeth Catlett made this terra-cotta sculpture of a young black man in 1955 and called it "Target," (High Museum of Art). The beautifully rendered naturalism of the features recalls the portrait bust tradition of the Ife and Benin cultures, (Yoruba) that originated in modern Nigeria. Compare Catlett's sculpture with "Head of an Oni (king)" (National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria), which dates to the 12th-13th centuries. The work is cast in brass, a highly sophisticated and technical method mastered by the Ife and Benin cultures.

The Art Institute of Chicago recently held an exhibition of Catlett's prints and sculpture. There, I saw another male portrait bust called "Target Practice," 1970, cast bronze, (Amistad Research Center Collection). The poignancy of this image still resonates today.

A good portion of Catlett's oevre was dedicated to the subject of mothers and children, however she fought for civil rights throughout her career. She did a print called "And a Special Fear for My Loved Ones," in which she drew attention to lynching, the ever-present threat that plagued the African American community in the South.

I hope you have enjoyed this spotlight on Elizabeth Catlett. To receive regular articles on art, please add your name to my contact list at www.deniselaurinvisualart.com.

Resources:

The Museum of Modern Art, New York

The Art Institute of Chicago Google Arts and Culture

Kampen O'Reilly, Michael. Art Beyond the West. 3rd ed. 2014. Lawrence King Publishing, s

Powell, Richard J. Black Art: A Cultural History, 2^nd ed. Thames & Hudson. 2002