Sharecropper
Elizabeth Catlett American and Mexican
Catlett wanted to make art for the people that would be accessible and reflect their struggles for political, racial, gender, and economic equality. Printmaking was ideally suited for this endeavor, especially techniques like linocut, which she practiced at the Taller de Gráfica Popular. Catlett first went to Mexico in 1946, funded by a grant to create a series of prints centered on the experiences of Black American women. In Sharecropper, she portrayed the dignity and strength of an anonymous female tenant farmer and, through her, that of other Black women. Sharecropping, a practice in which workers paid for land with a portion of their crop, was exploitative and resulted in lifelong debt. The work was first published as a black-and-white linocut; Catlett later printed a small number with color additions, such as this one.
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