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Head (Head of a Man)

Sculpture of a man's head in beige limestone, facing front. The nose is strong and angular, the lips closed and full, the ears flat at top, the hair textured and cropped short. The wide eyes are deeply carved.

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  • Sculpture of a man's head in beige limestone, facing front. The nose is strong and angular, the lips closed and full, the ears flat at top, the hair textured and cropped short. The wide eyes are deeply carved.

Date:

1943

Artist:

Elizabeth Catlett (American, active in Mexico, 1915–2012)

About this artwork

Elizabeth Catlett made this sculpture early in her career, just after a formative period in Chicago. Its angular features and deep carvings demonstrate Catlett’s confident abstraction of the human form. She was inspired by African art, which she saw as the precursor to modernist abstraction; “After all,” she said, “abstraction was born in Africa.” Catlett continued to build on these formal qualities through sculptures, prints, and paintings, developing an expressive, modern aesthetic to depict African American subjects.

Status

On loan to Brooklyn Museum in New York City for Elizabeth Catlett: "A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies"

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

Elizabeth Catlett

Title

Head (Head of a Man)

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.

1943

Medium

Limestone

Inscriptions

Signed verso, bottom-left edge, incised: "EC".

Dimensions

34.3 × 24.1 × 18.4 cm (13 1/2 × 9 1/2 × 7 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Roger and J. Peter McCormick and Jane and Morris Weeden endowment funds; Arts of the Americas Discretionary Fund

Reference Number

2021.413

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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