Untitled (Harriet Tubman)

1953

Elizabeth Catlett

Artist, American and Mexican, 1915 - 2012

Taller de Gráfica Popular

Publisher, Mexican, founded 1937

Printed with black against cream-white paper, a woman pointing to our right nearly fills this vertical linocut. Her body is angled slightly to our right, and she looks off in that direction with hooded eyes. She has wide cheekbones, a thin upper lip, full lower lip, and her mouth is closed over a pointed chin. Her head is covered in a patterned cloth, and she wears a knee-length coat over a long skirt. A knapsack hangs across her torso, and she braces the barrel of a rifle with her right hand, to our left, as she points with the other hand. Two people with short, dark hair stand behind her and to our right. The front person wears pants, square-toed shoes, and a jacket over a shirt. Bracelet-like objects on his wrists could be broken shackles. The other person touches that man’s arm. A fourth person digs in the background to the left. The ground, trees, hills, and sky are dense flicks, slivers, and strokes. The artist signed the sheet in the bottom right corner under the image, “Elizabeth Catlett.”
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On View

East Building Concourse, Gallery 29-E


Artwork overview

More About this Artwork

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Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Dave H. and Reba W. Williams, Greenwich, CT; gift to NGA, 2008

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2016

  • Three Centuries of American Prints: from the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington; National Gallery in Prague, Prague 1; Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, Mexico City; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, 2016 - 2017, no. 97.

Inscriptions

Inscribed: In pencil: lower right, Elizabeth Catlett; verso: upper left, EXPO/105 (sticker); bottom left, TALLER DE GRAFICA POPULAR (stamped in ink); bottom right, 25.5 x 32 Limnografia 150.00 / E. Caclett [sic] - LIBER NEGRA

Wikidata ID

Q76440183


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