- Identification and Creation
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- Object Number
- 2006.76
- People
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Elizabeth Catlett, American (Washington, DC 1915 - 2012 Cuernavaca, Mexico)
Printed by Taller de Grafica Popular
- Title
- Portrait of a Woman (Cabeza de Negra)
- Classification
- Prints
- Work Type
- Date
- c. 1948
- Culture
- American
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/312583
- Physical Descriptions
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- Medium
- Lithograph on cream wove paper
- Technique
- Lithograph
- Dimensions
- Image: 56.5 x 43.5 cm (22 1/4 x 17 1/8 in.)
Sheet: 69.5 x 47 cm (27 3/8 x 18 1/2 in.) - Inscriptions and Marks
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- Signed: Lower right in graphite pencil: ECatlett
- label: verso : Elizabeth Catlett / "Cabeza" de Negra / Litografia [illegible] / Taller de Grafica Popular
- inscription:
- label: verso: Institut[illegible]nal de Bellas Artes - Museo Nacional de Arte Moderno / Oficina de Registro de Obras / Mexico / Autor Elizabeth Catlett 1919 / Titulo "Cabeza de Negra" / Tecnica Litografia / Medidas 56.5 x 43.5 / Pintado (Fecha) / Coleccion Del Autor.
- inscription: verso LL in graphite (inscription revealed after paper adhesive label was removed in conservation lab): Elizabeth Catlett / Cabeza / $150.00
- State, Edition, Standard Reference Number
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- Edition
- 5/20
- Acquisition and Rights
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- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Margaret Fisher Fund
- Copyright
- © Elizabeth Catlett / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
- Accession Year
- 2006
- Object Number
- 2006.76
- Division
- Modern and Contemporary Art
- Contact
- am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
- The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.
- Descriptions
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- Commentary
- Elizabeth Catlett made this portrait of an unknown black woman at the Taller de Gráfica Popular around 1948. As its name suggests, the Taller was a graphic arts workshop created to serve the Mexican people. The artists who worked there saw themselves as heirs to the nineteenth-century Mexican print tradition of Jose Posada, who created countless political broadsheets. Drawn to their revolutionary politics, Catlett went to work at the Taller in 1946. Her efforts there resulted in the "Negro Women" prints, a series of linocuts that illustrate the historic oppression, resistance, and survival of African American women. Catlett emphasizes and celebrates the racial characteristics of a black woman in this lithograph as well. She highlights her round eyes, broad nose, fleshy lips, smooth dark skin, and scratches away the ink from the litho stone to create the effect of kinky hair.
- Subjects and Contexts
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Collection Highlights
- Related Articles
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This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu