Created by

Catlett, Elizabeth, Mexican and American, 1915 - 2012

Subject of

Truth, Sojourner, American, 1797 - 1883

Date

1946-1947; printed 1989

Medium

ink and graphite on paper

Dimensions

H x W (image with title): 9 5/8 × 5 7/8 in. (24.4 × 15 cm)

H x W (image): 8 7/8 × 5 7/8 in. (22.5 × 15 cm)

H x W (sheet): 14 1/8 × 11 1/4 in. (35.9 × 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 Sojourner Truth. Shown from the waist up, she stands behind a lectern with an open book, perhaps a Bible, on top. She wears a dark striped dress with a light colored neckline or scarf around her neck. She has a light colored head wrap. Her right hand is raised with her index finger pointing upwards, and her left hand rests on the lectern. 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

Activism

Art

Feminism

Identity

Preaching

Resistance

Spirituality

Suffrage

Women

Credit Line

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

Object number

2017.21.6

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/fd5163d6ccc-324f-4e1e-ab08-dbb3e37ad428