If there are no images, then you have to create them. At the beginning of the 20th century, African-American history lacked representations in the canon of art history. Some collective experiences lacked images for identification, because it is only these that give rise to an idea of community, a shared iconography.
Elizabeth Catlett, Sharecropper, 1952/1970, MUSEUM MMK FOR MODERN ART, © Elizabeth Catlett Family Trust / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023, Photo: Axel Schneider
The portraits of Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012) are clear, precise and always personal. Her works depict both historical events in African-American history and people in her immediate surroundings. Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman and Phillis Wheatley are heroines who give courage and orientation. But women are also depicted in the fields, on the roadside, at work - vulnerable or resistant, caring or exuberant. Catlett's lithographs, woodcuts and linocuts, as well as her small-format sculptures, could easily be exhibited in many places and purchased at reasonable prices. Making art accessible to all was a fundamental concern for Elizabeth Catlett throughout her life.
The exhibition Elizabeth Catlett is the first comprehensive exhibition of the US-Mexican artist's work and shows works from all her creative phases.
November 18, 2023 to June 16, 2024
www.mmk.art
Elizabeth Catlett, Two Generations, 1979, courtesy of Dr. & Mrs. Walter O. Evans, © Elizabeth Catlett Family Trust / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2023
