Created by
Catlett, Elizabeth, Mexican and American, 1915 - 2012
Date
1968
Medium
ink on paper
Dimensions
H x W (image): 7 1/2 × 11 in. (19.1 × 27.9 cm)
Caption
"I’m not thinking about doing things new and different. I’m thinking about art for my people." - Elizabeth Catlett
Elizabeth Catlett was a versatile sculptor and printmaker committed to creating work promoting women, family, community, and equality. Throughout her career she employed art to express her views on social justice as well as to represent the lofty ideals of beauty. At a time when the general standard of beauty in America was the Eurocentric model, Negro Es Bello I embodies the emerging movement within black communities to embrace the wide array of Afrocentric features, skin color, and hair texture as beautiful. With this image Catlett proclaimed her connection to the Black Arts Movement of the late 1960s and the celebration of blackness as a source of ethnic pride.
Description
This lithograph depicts the head of an child from the neck up. Shown in profile slightly from the rear, the head faces to the right. The child has short hair, high cheekbones and long eyelashes. Done in shades of grey, the background has irregular black lines against a textured grey field. There is a wide margin around the image. It is signed and titled along the bottom margin.
Classification
Visual Arts
Movement
Black is Beautiful
Type
lithographs
portraits
Topic
Africa
Art
Children
Credit Line
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Object number
2014.233.4ab
Restrictions & Rights
© 2020 Catlett Mora Family Trust/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
GUID
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd572bfa894-658c-43ec-823f-85e861dc5e84

Cataloging is an ongoing process and we may update this record as we conduct additional research and review. If you have more information about this object, please contact us at NMAAHCDigiTeam@si.edu

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