Elizabeth Catlett: Mentorship and Collaboration in Practice
For this month's Art at Noon, join scholar Charmaine Branch to explore Elizabeth Catlett, a titan of 20th century art whose work bridges African, Mexican, and Modernist traditions. Catlett, the first African American woman to earn an MFA from the University of Iowa, challenged the Western canon of art by portraying Black women as monumental figures of strength and dignity.
In her talk, Elizabeth Catlett: Mentorship and Collaboration in Practice, Branch will examine Catlett's iconic sculptures and prints with an insightful lens on Catlett's commitment to artistic community and social change which continues to influence American visual culture today. This lecture offers a vital look at an artist features in PAFA's exhibition A Nation of Artists, whose legacy remains a testament to the power of collective vision.
About Charmaine Branch
Charmaine Branch is a Ph.D. candidate in the Departments of Art & Archaeology and African American Studies.
She studies modern and contemporary art of the African Diaspora with a focus on Black feminist literature and theory. Her dissertation addresses Black women artists’ contributions to Black intellectual histories of collecting and archiving in the United States. She is currently the Programming Coordinator for the digital humanities research project, Art Hx: Visual and Medical Legacies of British Colonialism, and has provided administrative support for Princeton University programs including the film series, Combahee Experimental: Black Women’s Experimental Filmmaking, curated by Tina Campt and Simone Leigh.
Branch holds an M.A. in Modern Art: Critical and Curatorial Studies from Columbia University and a B.A. in Art History from Vassar College. Prior to Princeton, she worked as a Curatorial Fellow at The Studio Museum in Harlem and the Museum of Modern Art, where she contributed to several exhibitions and permanent collection projects.
works by elizabeth catlett
Blues Player, 1995
Lithograph, ed. 11/25
11 3/8 x 6 1/4 in. (28.8925 x 15.875 cm.)
Gift of Dr. Constance E. Clayton in loving memory of her mother Mrs. Williabell Clayton
Self Portrait, 1999
Silver pencil on black paper
24 x 17 7/8 in. (60.96 x 45.4025 cm.)
Art by Women Collection, Gift of Linda Lee Alter
My right is a future of equality with other Americans, 1947
Linocut on paper
6 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. (16.51 x 24.13 cm.)
Art by Women Collection, Gift of Linda Lee Alter
I have given the world my songs, 1947
Linocut on paper
8 x 5 1/2 in. (20.32 x 13.97 cm.)
Art by Women Collection, Gift of Linda Lee Alter
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