- Elizabeth Catlett
Infobox Artist
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name = Elizabeth Catlett
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caption = Elizabeth Catlett
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birthdate = 1915
location =Washington, D.C.
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deathplace =
nationality = American
field =Sculpture
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awards = Elizabeth Catlett Mora (bornApril 15 ,1915 ) is anAfrican American sculptor andprintmaker . Catlett is best known for the black, expressionistic sculptures and prints she produced during the 1960s and 1970s, which are seen as politically charged.Biography
Catlett was born in
Washington, D.C. , the youngest of three children. Both of her parents were teachers.She attended the
Lucretia Mott Elementary School , Dunbar High School, and thenHoward University where she studied design, printmaking and drawing. In an interview in December 1981 in "Artist and Influence " magazine, she stated that she changed her major to painting because of the influence ofJames A. Porter , and because there was no sculpture division at Howard at the time. She received her BS cum laude from Howard in 1935. She then worked as a high school teacher in North Carolina but left after two years, frustrated by the low teaching salaries for black people.While living and working in
Harlem ,New York she was briefly married to Charles White.In 1947, she married Mexican artist
Francisco Mora , and made Mexico her permanent home, later becoming a Mexican citizen. They have 3 sons, including film director Juan Mora. Her granddaughter,Naima Mora , was the Cycle 4 winner of theAmerica's Next Top Model television show. Catlett's sculpture, "Naima", is of Naima as a child.Since retiring in 1975, she continues to be active in the
Cuernavaca ,Mexico art community.Education
In 1940 Catlett became the first student to receive an M.F.A. in sculpture at the
University of Iowa . While there, she was influenced by American landscape painterGrant Wood , who urged students to work with the subjects they knew best. For Catlett, this meant black people, and especially black women, and it was at this point that her work began to focus on African Americans. Her piece Mother and Child (done in limestone in 1939 for her thesis [ Rubenstein, Charlotte Streifer, "American Women Sculptors", G.K. Hall & Co., Boston 1990 ] ), won first prize in sculpture at theAmerican Negro Exposition in Chicago in 1940.She studied ceramics at the
Art Institute of Chicago in 1941,lithography at theArt Students League of New York in 1942-1943, and with sculptorOssip Zadkine in New York in 1943.Career
Catlett became the 'promotion director' for the
George Washington Carver School inHarlem located at 57 W. 125th St.Roy DeCarava was one of the students. Some of the teachers includedErnest Crichlow ,Norman Lewis , and Charles White, who was for a time her husband.In 1946 Catlett received a
Rosenwald Fund Fellowship that allowed her to travel toMexico where she studied wood carving withJose L. Ruiz and ceramic sculpture withFrancisco Zúñiga , at theEscuela de Pintura y Escultura ,Esmeralda, Mexico . She later moved, toMexico , married, and became aMexican citizen.In Mexico, she worked with the
Taller de Gráfica Popular , (People's Graphic Arts Workshop), a group of printmakers organized in 1936 and dedicated to using their art to promote social change. There she and other artists created a series of linoleum cuts on black heroes. They "did posters, leaflets, collective booklets, illustrations for textbooks, posters and illustrations for the construction of schools, against illiteracy in Mexico."She became the first female professor of sculpture and head of the sculpture department at the
National Autonomous University of Mexico , School of Fine Arts, San Carlos, inMexico City , in 1958, and taught there until retiring in 1975. She continues to be active in the art community ofCuernavaca, Morelos .Awards
She has received numerous awards including the
Women's Caucus For Art . The Graphic Arts Workshop has won an international peace prize. An Elizabeth Catlett Week was proclaimed inBerkeley, California , and an Elizabeth Catlett Day inCleveland, Ohio . She is an honorary citizen ofNew Orleans and has received the keys to many cities. She received anhonorary Doctorate fromPace University , inNew York and was accompanied to the presentation by fellow sculptor and good friendManuel Bennett .Works
Some of her best-known prints are "Sharecropper" (1968 or 1970) (sources differ), and "Malcolm X Speaks for Us" (1969). Well known sculptured pieces include "Dancing Figure" (1961), "The Black Woman Speaks" and "Target" (1970), and "The Singing Head". The
National Council of Negro Women in New York City commissioned her to create a bronze sculpture, and her bronze relief adorns the Chemical Engineering Building at Howard University. In 2003 Catlett designed a memorial to authorRalph Ellison , which stands inWest Harlem, NY .She has created numerous outdoor sculptures which are displayed in Mexico; in Jackson, Mississippi; New Orleans, LA; and, Washington, D.C. She is represented in many collections through the world including the Institute of Fine Arts, Mexico, the
Museum of Modern Art , NY; Museum of Modern Art, Mexico; National Museum of Prague; Library of Congress, Washington, D.C; State University of Iowa; Howard University; Fisk Unitersity; Atlanta University; the Barnett-Aden Collection, Tampa, Fl.; Schomburg Collection, NY; Rothman Gallery, L.A.; Museum of New Orleans, High Museum, Atlanta; and the Metropolitan Museum, NY.References
External links
* [http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/catlett_elizabeth.html Elizabeth Catlett Online] ArtCyclopedia guide to pictures of works by Elizabeth Catlett in art museum sites and image archives worldwide.
* [http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/arts/catlett.html African American World . Arts & Culture . Art Focus |PBS] Elizabeth Catlett page of the Social Activism section of thePBS article on African American Artists
* [http://www.junekellygallery.com/catlett.htm June Kelly Gallery Elizabeth Catlett] Includes a detailed timeline of Catlett's life
* [http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/835/Elizabeth_Catlett_sculptor_with_a_Mexican_influence African American Registry: Elizabeth Catlett, sculptor with a Mexican influence!]
* [http://www.iowalum.com/daa/mora.html Distinguished Alumni Awards] The University of Iowa Presents Elizabeth Catlett Mora
* [http://www.picassomio.com/ElizabethCatlett/ Elizabeth Catlett Art: PicassoMio.com] Biography and selected exhibitions
* [http://www.visionaryproject.com/catlettelizabeth Elizabeth Catlett's oral history video excerpts] at The National Visionary Leadership Project
* [http://www.sculpture.org/documents/scmag03/apr03/catlett/cat.shtml Form That Achieves Sympathy A Conversation with Elizabeth Catlett by Michael Brenson] in "Sculpture", a publication of the International Sculpture Center
*citation|title=A Visit with Elizabeth Catlett|first=Phoebe|last=Dufrene|journal=Art Education|volume=47|issue=1|year=1994|pages=68–72|doi=10.2307/3193443
* [http://www.airportfineart.com/ecallettbiopage.htm Brief Profile with nice picture]
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