Artwork Page for Magic People

Details / Information for Magic People

Magic People

2002

Elizabeth Catlett

(American, 1915–2012)
Culture
America
Medium
color linoleum cut
Measurements
Sheet: 37.4 x 35.7 cm (14 3/4 x 14 1/16 in.); Image: 25.7 x 24.4 cm (10 1/8 x 9 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of the Artist 2002.64
Copyright
© Catlett Mora Family Trust / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print

Description

A mother of three sons, a grandmother, and a lifelong teacher, Elizabeth Catlett has always been involved with young people. She made Magic People for the Museum Ambassadors, a group of Cleveland-area high-school students who are exposed to the museum environment to encourage an ongoing relationship with the arts in their communities. Catlett has been working for six decades as a printmaker and sculptor. She produces compassionate, heroic images of ordinary people, rendered in a style of simplified realism, which celebrate her African American identity as well as her adopted Mexican homeland. Catlett went to Mexico in 1946 to work at the printmaking workshop Taller de Gráfica Popular (People's Art Workshop). While there, she met her husband, artist Francisco Mora.
A square print depicts ten blocky figures arranged in two horizontal rows of five against a white background. Each figure faces forward with arms raised high and palms open, featuring dots for eyes and circular mouths. A palette of bright pink, orange, purple, and teal colors the figures, which alternate between wearing flared dresses and straight trousers. A signature and the date 2002 appear in the lower right corner.

Magic People

2002

Elizabeth Catlett

(American, 1915–2012)
America

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