Accomplished printmaker and sculptor, avowed feminist, and lifelong activist Elizabeth Catlett (1915–2012) built a career around intersecting passions for formal rigor and social justice. This richly illustrated book offers a revelatory look at the artist and her life, highlighting a body of work that centers the experiences of Black and Mexican people.
Organized thematically, with deep dives into often overlooked aspects of her art by a range of scholars, the book shows Elizabeth Catlett (1915–2012) as a visionary—an avowed feminist, lifelong activist, and deft formalist. It traces her development from her earliest days into a transnational artist-activist who never stopped teaching. Growing up during the 1930s and 1940s, an era marked by the Great Depression and global economic turmoil, she witnessed class inequality and racial violence, and passionately addressed these injustices through politically engaged art. Her prints and sculptures draw on organic abstraction, American and Mexican modernism, and African art, centering the trials and triumphs of Black American and Mexican women.
For more than a century—from Jim Crow segregation to the McCarthy-era Red Scare and the Cold War to Obama’s first term—Catlett dedicated her life to the pursuit of formal rigor and social justice, which she understood to be mutually reinforcing. This book positions Catlett as a transnational artist who worked in Washington, Chicago, and New York before settling in Mexico, where she lived and taught for more than 60 years. She embraced a political radicalism that merged the goals of the Black Left in the United States with the lessons of the Mexican Revolution. Through her dual practices in sculpture and printmaking, Catlett remained committed to depicting the strength and struggles of both Black American and Mexican communities.
Accomplished printmaker and sculptor, avowed feminist, and lifelong activist Elizabeth Catlett (1915–2012) built a career around intersecting passions for formal rigor and social justice. This richly illustrated book offers a revelatory look at the artist and her life, highlighting a body of work that centers the experiences of Black and Mexican people.
Organized thematically, with deep dives into often overlooked aspects of her art by a range of scholars, the book shows Elizabeth Catlett (1915–2012) as a visionary—an avowed feminist, lifelong activist, and deft formalist. It traces her development from her earliest days into a transnational artist-activist who never stopped teaching. Growing up during the 1930s and 1940s, an era marked by the Great Depression and global economic turmoil, she witnessed class inequality and racial violence, and passionately addressed these injustices through politically engaged art. Her prints and sculptures draw on organic abstraction, American and Mexican modernism, and African art, centering the trials and triumphs of Black American and Mexican women.
For more than a century—from Jim Crow segregation to the McCarthy-era Red Scare and the Cold War to Obama’s first term—Catlett dedicated her life to the pursuit of formal rigor and social justice, which she understood to be mutually reinforcing. This book positions Catlett as a transnational artist who worked in Washington, Chicago, and New York before settling in Mexico, where she lived and taught for more than 60 years. She embraced a political radicalism that merged the goals of the Black Left in the United States with the lessons of the Mexican Revolution. Through her dual practices in sculpture and printmaking, Catlett remained committed to depicting the strength and struggles of both Black American and Mexican communities.
- Format: Hardcover.
- Page count: 292 pages.
- Measures: 9" x 1.3" x 11".
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| Description | Accomplished printmaker and sculptor, avowed feminist, and lifelong activist Elizabeth Catlett (1915–2012) built a career around intersecting passions for formal rigor and social justice. This richly illustrated book offers a revelatory look at the artist and her life, highlighting a body of work that centers the experiences of Black and Mexican people. Organized thematically, with deep dives into often overlooked aspects of her art by a range of scholars, the book shows Elizabeth Catlett (1915–2012) as a visionary—an avowed feminist, lifelong activist, and deft formalist. It traces her development from her earliest days into a transnational artist-activist who never stopped teaching. Growing up during the 1930s and 1940s, an era marked by the Great Depression and global economic turmoil, she witnessed class inequality and racial violence, and passionately addressed these injustices through politically engaged art. Her prints and sculptures draw on organic abstraction, American and Mexican modernism, and African art, centering the trials and triumphs of Black American and Mexican women. For more than a century—from Jim Crow segregation to the McCarthy-era Red Scare and the Cold War to Obama’s first term—Catlett dedicated her life to the pursuit of formal rigor and social justice, which she understood to be mutually reinforcing. This book positions Catlett as a transnational artist who worked in Washington, Chicago, and New York before settling in Mexico, where she lived and taught for more than 60 years. She embraced a political radicalism that merged the goals of the Black Left in the United States with the lessons of the Mexican Revolution. Through her dual practices in sculpture and printmaking, Catlett remained committed to depicting the strength and struggles of both Black American and Mexican communities.
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