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Elizabeth Catlett
Blues, important signed/N lithograph by renowned African American artist Framed

1983

About the Item

Elizabeth Catlett Blues, 1983 Color lithograph on cream wove paper Signed, titled, dated and numbered in graphite pencil on the front Printed and published by the Brandywine Workshop, Philadelphia, PA. Frame included: elegantly matted and framed in museum quality dark wood frame with beveled accents under UV plexiglass Rarely to market, "Blues" is one of Elizabeth Catlett's most impressive, dazzling and celebrated prints. Another impression was exhibited in the 2010 "Beyond The Blues" exhibition from the collection of the Amistad Research Center, Tulane University, New Orleans, and reproduced on the cover of the catalogue "Beyond the Blues" as well as the Arts Quarterly Magazine published by the New Orleans Museum of Art. (see photos of the covers of both of these respective publications, featuring this print on the cover.) This work is elegantly matted and framed in a hand made wood frame with beveled edges and blue accents in UV plexiglass. Bibliography: Three Decades of American Printmaking, Edmunds pl. 171; p. 135 "Beyond the Blues", 2010, Reflections of African America in the Fine Arts Collection of the Amistad Research Center Arts Quarterly Magazine, 2010, published by the New Orleans Museum of Art. Measurements: Framed 36 inches vertical by 26 inches horizontal by 1.5 inches Artwork (visible) Print 28.5 inches vertical by 19 inches horizontal Elizabeth Catlett Biography: The granddaughter of former slaves, Catlett was raised in Washington, D.C. Her father died before she was born and her mother held several jobs to raise three children. Refused admission to Carnegie Institute of Technology because of her race, Catlett enrolled at Howard University, where her teachers included artist Loïs Mailou Jones and philosopher Alain Locke. She graduated with honors in 1935 and went on to earn the first MFA in sculpture at the University of Iowa five years later. Grant Wood, her painting teacher at Iowa, encouraged students to make art about what they knew best and to experiment with different mediums, inspiring Catlett to create lithographs, linoleum cuts, and sculpture in wood, stone, clay, and bronze. She drew subjects from African American and later Mexican life. In 1946, a grant from the Rosenwald Foundation enabled Catlett to move to Mexico City with her husband, printmaker Charles White. There she joined the Taller de Gráfica Popular, an influential and political group of printmakers. At the Taller, Catlett met the Mexican artist Francisco Mora, whom she married after divorcing White and with whom she had three sons. Catlett taught at the National School of Fine Arts in Mexico City from 1958 until her retirement in 1976, producing realistic and highly stylized two- and three-dimensional figures. Her subjects ranged from tender maternal images to confrontational symbols of the Black Power movement, to portraits of Martin Luther King Jr. and the writer Phyllis Wheatley. During the past 40 years, museums and galleries have held more than 50 solo exhibitions of Catlett’s sculptures and prints, including important retrospectives in 1993 and 1998. Catlett continued to make art through her mid-90s, while dividing her time between New York and Cuernavaca. -Courtesy National Museum of Women in the Arts
  • Creator:
    Elizabeth Catlett (1915 - 2012, American)
  • Creation Year:
    1983
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 36 in (91.44 cm)Width: 26 in (66.04 cm)Depth: 1.5 in (3.81 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    This work is elegantly matted and framed in a hand made wood frame with beveled edges and blue accents in UV plexiglass.
  • Gallery Location:
    New York, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1745212973532
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