Born today, April 15, 1915, Elizabeth Catlett was an African American sculptor and graphic artist. She was born in Washington D.C.; both her parents children of freed slaves. She went to Howard University there, studying painting. Later she attended University of Iowa to study with Grant Wood (landscape painting) and Henry Stinson (sculpture). Wood advised her to focus her art on what was important to her. Indeed, her art promoted her political and certainly humanitarian views on the plight of the African American and Mexican woman. In the '40s she moved to Mexico to study on a Rosenwald Fund Fellowship. Catlett was later barred from returning to the US, labeled an "undesirable alien".
Since she originally intended to become an art teacher, she did teach at several institutions both in the US and in Mexico. While in Mexico Catlett worked with the Taller de Grafica Popular for 20 years, using posters and publications to forward her message in support of women and children, social issues, leftist political views, etc. She had over 50 exhibitions of her work throughout the course of her lifetime, in Mexico and abroad. Her work was recognized with several awards. Her art, especially her sculpture became sought after and some pieces sold for several thousand dollars. Eventually she was allowed back into the US and divided her time between Battery Park City, NY, and Mexico.
Although the Sharecropper (below) was cut in 1952, it was not printed until 1970. It is one of her most recognized linoleum cuts.
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