Sharecropper by Elizabeth Catlett in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2023

Title: Sharecropper

Artist: Elizabeth Catlett (American and Mexican, Washington, D.C. 1915–2012 Cuernavaca)

Printer: Elizabeth Catlett (American and Mexican, Washington, D.C. 1915–2012 Cuernavaca)

Printer: José Sánchez (Mexican, active 1945–1985)

Publisher: Elizabeth Catlett (American and Mexican, Washington, D.C. 1915–2012 Cuernavaca)

Publisher: Taller de Gráfica Popular, Mexico City

Date: 1952 (published 1968–70)

Medium: Linocut

Dimensions: block: 17 11/16 x 16 7/8 in. (44.9 x 42.9 cm)
sheet: 30 x 22 1/4 in. (76.2 x 56.5 cm)

Classification: Prints

Credit Line: John B. Turner Fund, 1981

Accession Number: 1981.1098.1


Catlett drew on the formal vocabularies of Cubism and Mexican muralism in works that engage social-justice issues. "Sharecropper" is a powerful portrait of an anonymous woman that calls attention to the hardships experienced by tenant farmers of the American South, who were required to pay for the land they rented with part of their crop and thus often faced lifelong debt. Catlett was deeply invested in the democratic potential of printmaking and was particularly drawn to techniques like the linoleum cut that were inexpensive to produce and could generate large editions. She created "Sharecropper" at the Taller de Gráfica Popular (People’s Graphic Workshop) in Mexico City, which was dedicated to the production of socially engaged prints."


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/364497