Sharecropper
This image of dignity in hardship is one of the most famous pictorial treatments of sharecropping, an exploitative practice that kept generations of Black families in poverty, even as their labor fueled the U.S. economy. Sharecropping largely disappeared by the 1940s, but its legacies, like those of chattel slavery, live on. Catlett dedicated herself to illuminating the lives and diverse experiences of her fellow Black Americans. She made this print after she relocated to Mexico, where she worked with the progressive printmaking cooperative the Taller de Gráfica Popular and developed her distinctive socially conscious artistic language.
Artwork Details
- Title: Sharecropper
- Artist: Elizabeth Catlett (American and Mexican, Washington, D.C. 1915–2012 Cuernavaca)
- Date: 1952 (published 1968–70)
- Medium: Linocut printed in green and black
- Dimensions: Sheet: 20 1/16 × 18 7/8 in. (51 × 48 cm)
Image: 17 1/2 × 16 9/16 in. (44.5 × 42 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Gift of Richard and JoAnn Edinburg Pinkowitz, 2024
- Object Number: 2024.69.94
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Elizabeth Catlett (American and Mexican, Washington, D.C. 1915–2012 Cuernavaca)
1954
Elizabeth Catlett (American and Mexican, Washington, D.C. 1915–2012 Cuernavaca)
1975
Elizabeth Catlett (American and Mexican, Washington, D.C. 1915–2012 Cuernavaca)
1946
Elizabeth Catlett (American and Mexican, Washington, D.C. 1915–2012 Cuernavaca)
1946
Elizabeth Catlett (American and Mexican, Washington, D.C. 1915–2012 Cuernavaca)
1952 (published 1968–70)
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