Hispanic Heritage Month has ended, but the legacy left behind by one of its prominent allies, who advocated for social justice, women’s rights, and Mexican creative culture, lives on with the prolific artist’s artwork.
Artist Elizabeth Catlett in Mexico; Photo: From ‘Elizabeth Catlett: A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies’; Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Museum.
Elizabeth Catlett, born in Washington D.C. in 1915, was a naturally gifted artist and fearless activist. In her teens, she carved an elephant out of a bar of soap and kept developing her craft. She began protesting lynchings in front of the U.S. Supreme Court with a noose around her neck, symbolizing the violent demise Black citizens were experiencing. She was arrested but later released, becoming a beacon of hope and change for people of color. Catlett became the first student to earn a Master of Fine Arts in the U.S. from the University of Iowa in 1940 and completed her undergrad at Howard University, quite a feat for a Black woman in the Jim Crow era, rife with segregation, oppression, and unspeakable cruelty toward Black Americans.
Catlett’s art reflected the turbulence of that era, developing her sculpting and clay modeling techniques during the Black Chicago and Harlem Renaissance. One of her most iconic works: “The Negro Woman,” later renamed “Black Woman,” depicts beautiful solemn Black women at work (as nannies, servants, and field workers) through extraordinarily composed lithographs, paintings, and sculptures. When you look at these pieces, you can’t help but feel the ancestral pain of Black women who endured the limitations of their time yet possessed an unrelenting reserve of optimism.
© 2024 Mora-Catlett Family / Licensed by VAGAat Artists Rights Society (ARS),
NY. Photo: Wes Magyar/Brooklyn Museum.
Serving on the Arts Committee of the National Negro Congress (NNC), an organization committed to advocating for Black liberation and prompting Catlett to publish political cartoons and subsequently finding her social advocacy stride collaborating with Taller de Gráfica Popular in Mexico (TGP), an artist printmaking collective dedicated to social causes in the form of prints. Mexico is where Catlett would refine her “Black Woman” series, study terra-cotta sculpture under acclaimed artist Francisco Zúñiga, and call the country home for the next six decades after marrying her creative partner and renowned Mexican artist Francisco “Pancho” Mora, a celebrated printmaking and graphic creator who shuttled back and forth with Catlett to showcase their work in distinguished galleries around the U.S.
But, it wasn’t all accolades and fanfare for the artist couple.
As Catlett became more involved with the TGP’s mission, she gained notoriety back home. Spearheading and contributing to a series titled: “Against Discrimination in the U.S.,” showcasing African American heroes like Harriet Tubman and Ida B. Wells put a target on her back. Shortly after, incessant CIA and FBI monitoring of Catlett during the Cold War fear-mongering McCarthy era led to the artist’s citizenship being rescinded. And it wouldn’t be reinstated until 2002. Nonetheless, the courageous Elizabeth Catlett fought for workers’ rights, especially working-class Mexican women, advocating for railroad workers, teachers, and doctors to strike and support the country’s anticolonial movements of the 70s.
Elizabeth Catlett is a monumental figure in Black and Mexican artistic culture. She’s lived through historic upheavals and milestones, all documented in this breathtaking exhibition. Visit the Brooklyn Museum for tickets to view Elizabeth Catlett: A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies exhibit (including over 200+ pieces), running through January 2025!
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