By Melanie Anne Herzog

Printmaker and sculptor Elizabeth Catlett played an influential role in America's African American and Mexico's revolutionary art communities in the mid-20th century. She studied art at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and at the University of Iowa (where she briefly worked with Grant Wood), the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Art Students League in New York, before moving to Mexico in 1947.

Focusing on Catlett's evocative series entitled The Negro Woman from 1946–47, this book reveals Catlett's commitment to social and political issues. All of the 15 linoleum prints are beautifully reproduced and together address the harsh reality of black women's labor; honor renowned historical heroines such as Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and Phillis Wheatley; and depict the fears, struggles, and achievements of ordinary African American women. Other notable works by Catlett are also included, and an absorbing essay by distinguished scholar Melanie Anne Herzog analyzes the artist's powerful work.

Art Institute of Chicago, 2005
9 1/2 x 8 5/8 in.; 36 pages; 24 illustrations
Softcover $9.95 ISBN 0-300-11612-8

Available to booksellers at wholesale prices from Yale University Press.