- Created by
- Catlett, Elizabeth, Mexican and American, 1915 - 2012
- Date
- 1946; printed 1989
- Medium
- ink and graphite on paper
- Dimensions
- H x W (image with title): 6 3/4 × 6 3/8 in. (17.1 × 16.2 cm)
- H x W (image): 6 3/8 × 6 3/8 in. (16.2 × 16.2 cm)
- H x W (sheet): 12 5/16 × 10 1/8 in. (31.3 × 25.7 cm)
- 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
- Black and white linocut of passengers on a bus. The first bus seat in the foreground has a [COLORED ONLY] sign at the top. There are four unidentified women seated behind this sign. The central woman in front is wearing a textured jacket. The title is handwritten in graphite below the image and the work is signed. The reverse is blank.
- Portfolio/Series
- The Black Woman (formerly the Negro Woman)
- Classification
- Visual Arts
- Type
- linocuts
- Topic
- Art
- Identity
- Race discrimination
- Resistance
- Segregation
- Transportation
- Women
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Winifred Hervey
- Object number
- 2017.21.11
- 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.