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Sharecropper

Print rendered in visible uniform lines of a 2/3 bust view of a dark-skinned mature woman looking to her left in a wide brim hat, a safety pin securing her black jacket. Her face and neck is a rich brown hue, while the rest of the portrait is rendered in black and white.
© 2019 Catlett Mora Family Trust / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

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  • Print rendered in visible uniform lines of a 2/3 bust view of a dark-skinned mature woman looking to her left in a wide brim hat, a safety pin securing her black jacket. Her face and neck is a rich brown hue, while the rest of the portrait is rendered in black and white.

Date:

1952, printed 1970

Artist:

Elizabeth Catlett
American, active in Mexico, 1915-2012

About this artwork

Elizabeth Catlett created this linocut in Mexico, where she moved in 1946 to work at the Taller de Gráfica Popular (People’s Graphic Arts Workshop). She was influenced by the spirit of activism at the workshop, which inspired her to produce art that could be used in the fight for equality and justice for African Americans. Sharecropper, like many of her other works, shows Catlett’s determination to showcase the lives of black women in the South, here drawing attention to the inequitable system of tenant farming that often resulted in a ceaseless cycle of increasing debt.

This impression was printed from the original linoleum block in 1970, many years after Catlett first produced the image and, in it, Catlett added color whereas the earlier printings were black and white. Once a block is cut, an artist can reprint it as long as they find the image it produces acceptable. In Sharecropper, the monumentalized the figure and is depicted with humanity and strength.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Elizabeth Catlett

Title

Sharecropper

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1952

Medium

Color linocut on cream Japanese paper

Inscriptions

Signed recto, lower right: "Elizabeth Catlett"; inscribed recto, lower left: "A/P Sharecropper"

Dimensions

Image: 45 × 43.1 cm (17 3/4 × 17 in.); Sheet: 55.7 × 51.5 cm (21 15/16 × 20 5/16 in.)

Credit Line

Purchased with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Hartman

Reference Number

1992.182

Copyright

© 2019 Catlett Mora Family Trust / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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