Created by

Catlett, Elizabeth, Mexican and American, 1915 - 2012

Date

1946-1947; printed 1989

Medium

ink and graphite on paper

Dimensions

H x W (image with title): 9 1/4 × 6 1/8 in. (23.5 × 15.6 cm)

H x W (image): 8 11/16 × 5 7/8 in. (22 × 15 cm)

H x W (sheet): 15 × 11 1/4 in. (38.1 × 28.6 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

This black and white linocut depicts three women cleaning. In the foreground is a woman on her hands and knees scrubbing the floor. Wearing a long skirt and a loose shirt with the sleeves rolled up past her elbows, she holds a balled up rag in her right hand. There is a bucket next to her. Behind her are two other women, both bending over buckets and wringing out rags. Both women wear a calf length skirt and a shirt with the sleeves rolled up. There is a staircase in the background. There is a handwritten title below the image in pencil. It is signed by the artist on the bottom right. The back is blank.

Place made

Mexico City, Mexico, Latin America, North and Central America

Portfolio/Series

The Black Woman (formerly the Negro Woman)

Classification

Visual Arts

Type

linocuts

Topic

Art

Domestic life

Identity

Labor

Resistance

Women

Credit Line

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Winifred Hervey

Object number

2017.21.2

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/fd53785af44-461e-412f-84e2-e013b6ee2cc5