Page 171 - Swann Galleries - African-American Fine Art - Sale 2303 - February 14, 2013

Elizabeth Catlett
We present this special section to commemorate the great Elizabeth Catlett who passed away last
April, just shy of her 97th birthday. In addition to an outstanding example of her renowned sculpture,
the 1971 green marble Sister, we are offering a selection of fine prints that display her wide range in
the medium—from the iconic Sharecropper to the joyous Dancing.Through her long career, Elizabeth
Catlett made tremendous contributions to printmaking; she became an expert in linoleum cut and
lithography, and greatly elevated the subject of women.
Catlett first studied linocut with James LesesneWells at Howard University, and then lithography with
Harrry Sternberg at the Art Students League from 1944-45. Shortly thereafter, her Mexican period
began in 1946 with printmaking; she joined the country’s tradition of popular and fine graphic arts
with strong political and social themes. Based on a proposal to make a series of prints depicting the
oppressions and struggles of African-American women, Catlett won a Julius Rosenwald Fund
Fellowship, which brought her to Mexico City.Working at the Taller de Gráfica Popular, the famous
printmaking workshop founded by Leopoldo Mendez, Raul Anguiano, Luis Arenal and Pablo
O’Higgins, she completed the historic series, I am the NegroWoman, of 15 linoleum cuts, in 1947.At
the Taller, she also met her future husband, Francisco Mora; Catlett continued to make prints for the
next 60 years.We are honored to present the complete 1989 I am a BlackWoman set—the later printing
of I am the NegroWoman—at auction for the first time.