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Sharecropper

 First of all, I would like to wish you all a belated Happy Black History Month, a current Happy Women's Month and a belated International Women's Day. I would like to discuss American (active in Mexico) printmaker and sculptor Elizabeth Catlett's Sharecropper (1915-2012). 


I remember first seeing this artwork in one of my textbooks either in community college or university. The lines and detail of this artwork gives off a pain that is so deep.   The deep pain I'm talking about is the pain of the sharecropping system.  Catlett wanted to show the world what sharecroppers went in the American South. My African American Studies professor described the sharecropping system as "a system meant for failure." The female figure's aged skin, clothing, facial expression and white hair depicts her tough life as a sharecropper. But yet, it gives off a quiet dignity and strength.



Artist Facts

Artist: Elizabeth Catlett

Title: Sharecropper

Medium: Color Linocut on Japanese paper

Dimensions: 17 3/4  in x 16 7/8 in

Year: 1952, created. 1968-1970, published.

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