Elizabeth Catlett

Elizabeth Catlett

Elizabeth Catlett would not separate her art from the people. She felt she had to express her talents via the reality and struggle of her people. She therefore brings to the art world a social consciousness in the reflections of her art pieces. Elizabeth Catlett was born in Washington D.C. She passed a competitive exam for entry to the Carnegie Institute of Technology in 1932, but was refused into its school of art due to her race. She therefore entered Howard University and studied for one year under LOIS MAILOU JONES to become a textile designer.

She changed her major to PAINTING when she discovered what concepts and messages could be conveyed in this form of art. The concepts which were conveyed in the Mexican Muralists were the turning point in her dedication to Socialist expressive art. Upon graduation with honors from Howard University in 1937, Elizabeth Catlett went on to the State University of Iowa. At IOWA, she studied under GRANT WOOD (artist of AMERICAN GOTHIC and DAUGHTERS OF REVOLUTION). Wood encouraged her "to paint what we knew most intimately." Catlett was the first student to receive a M.F.A. degree from the State University of Iowa in 1940.

Her master's thesis, MOTHER AND CHILD, won the AMERICAN NEGRO EXHIBITION in Chicago in 1940. In her career and travels, Elizabeth Catlett was able to spread her knowledge and increase her fame. Her work was exhibited around the world in Mexico City, Paris, Prague, Tokyo, Beijing, Berlin, and Havana. Her outdoor sculptures were being set up in Jackson, Mississippi, New Orleans, Louisiana, Washington D.C., and New York City. She served as chairman of the Art Department at DILLARD UNIVERSITY in New Orleans. At the same time, she married the respected African-American artist, CHARLES WHITE. She and Charles White later taught art at HAMPTON INSTITUTE in Virginia in the early 1940's. Out of the Hampton experience came JOHN BIGGERS, one of America's top African-American artists.

The sharing of ideas concerning the direction of African-American artists and art was often communicated with artist and professor, HALE WOODRUFF of SPELMAN COLLEGE in Atlanta, Georgia. Elizabeth Catlett's expressive art pieces won her eight major prizes for her exhibited works. The AMERICAN CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT of the 1960's eventually convinced Catlett to settle permanently in Cuernavaca, Mexico. After her divorce from Charles White, she married Mexican artist, FRANCISCO MORA. Today she is considered one of Mexico's top artists.

Some of her notable works include:
SHARECROPPER, woodcut, 1970
PENSIVE, bronze, 1946
NEGRO ES BELLO, lithograph, 1968
MALCOLM SPEAKS TO US, linocut, 1969
SINGING HEAD, marble, 1970
HOMAGE TO MY YOUNG BLACK SISTERS, cedar wood, 1968