Elizabeth Catlett (American, 1915-2012)
Blues, 1983
Lithograph, ed. of 130, A/P
17 7/8 x 27 5/8 in.
Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art, St. Petersburg College, gift of James G. Sweeny in memory of Martha M. Sweeny, 2020.4.11
Published by the Brandywine Workshop and Archives, Philadelphia, PA
Born in 1915, in Washington, D.C., Elizabeth Catlett was a printmaker, sculptor, educator, and activist, known for her Modernist figurative work. The granddaughter of freed slaves, Catlett’s style of social realism focused on injustice and humanity, race and class, and the strength and dignity of African Americans, particularly women. The inspiration she found in African art and the social activism of Mexican muralists, like Diego Rivera, influenced all facets of her life and career.
In the 1930s, Catlett received a scholarship to attend Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie Mellon University, but she was refused admission when the school learned she was African American. Catlett went on to attend Howard University on scholarship, where she studied printmaking under James Lesesne Wells and graduated cum laude in 1935. Teaching in public schools, she fought alongside Thurgood Marshall for equal pay for Black educators. Painter Grant Wood became her mentor at the University of Iowa, where she studied sculpture and was the first to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1940.
In the 1940s, Catlett taught at Dillard University, in New Orleans, studied ceramics at the Chicago Art Institute, and was married artist Charles White for a brief time. Traveling to Mexico on a fellowship, in 1946, she joined the Taller de Gráfica Popular, a printmaking studio in Cuernavaca, where she met and married artist Francisco Mora. As an activist, Catlett was investigated by the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s. She was barred from returning to the U.S. and became a citizen of Mexico in 1962. She taught at the National University of Mexico until 1975. Coming full circle, she later received an Honorary Doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as Pace University. Collected by major museums worldwide, Catlett’s work continues to influence future generations as a part of the foundation of Modern printmaking and sculpture.
Published by Brandywine Workshop, an impression of Blues is also included in the permanent collections of Yale and Tulane Universities.
Elizabeth Catlett Website: