Enduring Voices Catalogue (6-21-23) - Flipbook - Page 27
Elizabeth
CATLETT
(1915-2012)
Born into a middle-class family in Washington, D.C., Elizabeth
Catlett is best known for lithographs, linoleum cuts, and sculpture
in wood, stone, clay, and bronze. Listening to her grandmother’s
stories of African enslavement inspired much of Catlett’s work,
which focused on the African American experience, particularly
among women, as well as the civil rights movement.
Catlett was accepted into the Carnegie Institute of Technology —
and then rejected when the school learned she was Black.
She went on to graduate cum laude from Howard University
in 1937 and to become the first Black woman to earn a masters
in fine arts from the University of Iowa in 1940.
Catlett followed in her parents’ footsteps by working as an
educator for several years. In 1946, she traveled to Mexico
on an art fellowship and ended up making Mexico her home
after marrying printmaker and muralist Francisco Mora. With
her heart in social activism, Catlett joined the Taller de Gráfica
Popular (translation: People’s Graphic Workshop), an artists’
collective that used art to promote revolutionary social causes.
Her membership led to her being declared an “undesirable alien”
by the U.S. government during the McCarthy era, and she was
barred from entering the U.S. In 1962, Catlett renounced her U.S.
citizenship and became a citizen of Mexico.
Interesting Catlett Fact:
In 2007, an administrator from Carnegie Mellon University (formerly Carnegie
Institute of Technology) learned of Elizabeth Catlett’s rejection by the Institute
seventy years earlier, which led to the university president awarding Catlett an
honorary doctorate degree and a one-women show at the university.
ELIZABETH CATLETT
COLLECTING WOMEN ARTISTS
Regarding the Elizabeth Catlett sculpture: We went
in looking at something completely different, and saw
it across the room and instantly knew that we had
to have it. Then we learned that it was a portrait of
her granddaughter, which made it even more special.
We also learned that a marble sculpture by Elizabeth
Catlett is a bit unusual, as she usually carves in wood
or casts in bronze. So this is an important piece
among Catlett’s works.
We also became interested in other works of art
by women, so we have several works by African
American women. We have been interested in
promoting women artists, because they have been
underrepresented. We feel that it is important
to recognize and support them. We have joined
the National Museum of Women in the Arts in
Washington, D.C. We don’t get there as much as we
would like, but we do offer our support.
–Susan S. and David R. Goode
Left: Elizabeth Catlett (United States/Mexico, 1915-2012)
Naima: My Granddaughter, 1998
Marble on separate wood base, 13 x 7 x 12 in.
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