Elizabeth CatlettKEISHA M. Hand Drawn Lithograph, Young Black Female Portrait, Afro Hairstyle2008
2008
About the Item
- Creator:Elizabeth Catlett (1915 - 2012, American)
- Creation Year:2008
- Dimensions:Height: 28 in (71.12 cm)Width: 21.75 in (55.25 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Mint condition, unframed, pencil signed, titled, and dated by Elizabeth Catlett, hand torn edges, printers chop mark embossed on lower left, print documentation/Certificate of Authenticity provided, from the master printers private collection.
- Gallery Location:Union City, NJ
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU832310488962
Elizabeth Catlett
Promoting social change was Elizabeth Catlett’s prime motivation as an artist. The granddaughter of enslaved people, Catlett was born in Washington, D.C., in 1915 and spent her adult life driven to create sculptures, prints and paintings that would reach, celebrate and uplift those who were barely visible in art.
“I have always wanted my art to service Black people — to reflect us, to relate to us, to stimulate us, to make us aware of our potential,” Catlett said of her work in the 1978 book Art: African American. She studied art history, drawing and other disciplines at Howard University, and as an MFA student at the University of Iowa, her mentor, the painter Grant Wood, advised her to “take as her subject what she knew best.” As she later told an interviewer, “The thing that I knew the most about was Black women, because I am one, and I lived with them all my life, so that’s what I started working with.”
The centerpiece of Catlett’s spring 1940 thesis project, Negro Mother and Child — a figure of a Black mother embracing her child, carved from Indiana limestone — was awarded first place for sculpture at the American Negro Exposition in Chicago held that year.
Catlett taught art at Dillard University in New Orleans — where she battled discrimination daily — and met her first husband, artist Charles White, while living in Chicago. She resigned from Dillard in 1942 and moved to New York City. There Catlett befriended painter Jacob Lawrence and studied lithography and other media at the Art Students League. Inspired by her studies with Ossip Zadkine, she began to incorporate abstract forms into her wood and stone sculptures.
In 1946, a grant supported her travel to Mexico to study its murals and graphic art. As Catlett had experienced the barbaric and deeply destructive system of racial segregation that the Jim Crow laws enforced in the United States, Mexico felt like a welcome escape. She would make the country her home and create much of her work there, divorcing White and marrying painter and printmaker Francisco Mora of the Taller de Gráfica Popular (People's Graphic Workshop), or TGP, in 1947. She collaborated with TGP, a graphic arts workshop dedicated to social issues located in Mexico City, on a number of works, including one of her best-known linoleum cut prints, Sharecropper (1952). The heroic depiction of an anonymous farm worker was intended to draw attention to the plight of Black tenant farmers who were ruthlessly exploited by the era’s white landowners.
Another iconic work of Catlett’s is Black Unity (1968), a raised fist sculpted from cedar, smooth and gleaming, with one side taking the form of two faces that resemble carved African masks. In the same year, the raised fist, a powerful symbol of the Civil Rights struggle and emblem of the Black Power movement, had been immortalized by two Black American athletes, John Carlos and Tommie Smith, who raised their black-gloved fists during the playing of the “Star-Spangled Banner” at the Summer Olympics in Mexico City.
Catlett was a professor of sculpture at the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s School of Fine Arts in Mexico City from 1958 until 1976, when she retired to focus on making art, exhibiting extensively in the years that followed. In 2003, she completed the Ralph Ellison Memorial in New York’s Riverside Park. That same year she received a lifetime achievement award from the International Sculpture Center. Her work is in the collections of museums worldwide, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Find a range of authentic Elizabeth Catlett art today on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Union City, NJ
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 3 days of delivery.
- CITY GROUP Signed Lithograph, Street Crowd, Women Men Faces, Peach Orange BrownBy Lester JohnsonLocated in Union City, NJCITY GROUP is an original hand drawn lithograph by the NY figurative expressionist painter, Lester Johnson. Printed using hand lithography techniques on archival printmaking paper 10...Category
1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- CITY GRACES Signed Lithograph Modern Women Pucci Print Dresses, Peach, Red, TanBy Lester JohnsonLocated in Union City, NJCITY GRACES is an original hand drawn lithograph by the NY figurative expressionist painter, Lester Johnson. Printed using hand lithography techniques on archival ARCHES paper 100% a...Category
1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- BIRD IN HAND Signed Lithograph, Man Woman Walking, Romance, British HumorBy Beryl CookLocated in Union City, NJBIRD IN HAND is a hand drawn, pencil signed limited edition lithograph by the well known and loved British artist and humorist, Beryl Cook. BIRD IN HAND is a lighthearted, comical la...Category
1990s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- THE FAMILY Signed Lithograph, Black Family Portrait, Collage, African AmericanBy James DenmarkLocated in Union City, NJTHE FAMILY is an original hand drawn, limited edition lithograph by the African American artist James Denmark, printed using hand lithography on Arches p...Category
1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- MARY and EDDIE Signed Lithograph, Art Deco Portrait, Red Hair, Shawl-collar CoatBy Robin MorrisLocated in Union City, NJMARY and EDDIE by the woman artist Robin Morris, is an original limited edition lithograph printed using hand lithography techniques on archival Coventry Rag paper, 100% acid free. M...Category
1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- SULTRY Signed Original Lithograph, Modern Female Portrait, Slicked Back HairBy Robin MorrisLocated in Union City, NJSULTRY by the woman artist Robin Morris, is an original limited edition lithograph printed using hand lithography techniques on archival Coventry Rag paper, 100% acid free. SULTRY is...Category
1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- The Artist is Present lLarge poster (40" High) - Hand Signed by Marina AbramovicBy Marina AbramovicLocated in New York, NYMarina Abramovic The Artist is Present poster (Hand Signed), 2012 Offset lithograph. Hand signed by Marina Abramović LARGE: 40 × 27 inches Boldly sig...Category
2010s Contemporary Portrait Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Permanent Marker, Offset
- Baseball Game: realist large-scale black and white drawing of sports gameBy Michele ZalopanyLocated in New York, NYThis print depicts a baseball game mid-play. An umpire crouches with his hand up, and the batter stands poised. In the lower right, spectators peer onto the field. The awning of the stadium, silhouetted in black, cuts lines across the top of the composition, rising over a hillside crowded with homes. This finely-drawn lithograph features Zalopany's characteristic mastery of light and shadow, from the delicate texture of the field, to the spectators backlit in shadow. The composition of Baseball Game was taken from a page in an old picture book, depicting a downtown section of Caracas, Venezuela that is home to a number of Art Deco buildings, all built in the 1950's. Found images are a regular inspiration for Zalopany's large-scale realism. This print calls additionally on Zalopany's regular depiction of nature contrasted with the man-made: here, a behemoth stadium rises beside rolling hills, themselves punctuated with more buildings than trees. This contrast is enhanced by the use of textured, delicate handmade paper, which lends warmth to this dramatic black-and-white drawing. Image 37.5 x 28 in. / 95.25 x 71.2 cm. Paper 51 x 36 in. / 131 x 93 cm. Lithograph on Korean kozo paper. Edition 70. Signed by the artist lower right in pencil, numbered lower center in pencil. Born in 1955 in Detroit Michigan, Michele Zalopany is a contemporary American artist best known for her large-scale watercolor and pastel paintings based on photographs found in digital picture collections, old books, and flea markets, etc. Found photographs and film screen shots that had originally served other purposes -- family snapshots, police photos...Category
1980s Contemporary Portrait Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- DEONTIC PARADOX KOANBy Carl BeamLocated in Aventura, FLLithograph on paper. Hand signed and numbered by the artist. Edition of 300. Certificate of Authenticity Included. Artwork in Excellent Condition. All reasonable offers will be ...Category
Late 20th Century Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsPaper, Lithograph
- Young Woman - Original Lithograph by Sandro Trotti - 1980sBy Sandro TrottiLocated in Roma, ITYoung Woman is an original litograph, realized by Sandro Trotti in 1980s. Representing a young woman exalted by a wonderful contrast of colors, this original print is hand-signed in...Category
1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Naona - Original Lithograph by Felicita Frai - 1992By Felicita FraiLocated in Roma, ITNaona is a Contemporary artwork realized by the Italian artist Felicita Frai (Prague, 20 ottobre 1909 – Milan, 14 aprile 2010) in 1992. Original 19 colors Lithograph on paper. Imag...Category
1990s Contemporary Portrait Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- BALLET VISIONS (PLATE 2)By Jane BazinetLocated in Aventura, FLSerigraph in colors on paper. Hand signed, titled and numbered by the artist. From the edition of 275. Sheet size 32 x 22 inches. Image size approx 29 x 19.5 inches. Artwork is in excellent condition. Certificate of authenticity included. All reasonable offers will be considered. Please note our gallery has more than 1 of this artwork in stock and the exact edition number you may receive may be different than pictured. About the artist: Jane Bazinet...Category
1980s Contemporary Figurative Prints
MaterialsLithograph, Paper