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The Museum Unveils a Breathtaking Sculpture by Elizabeth Catlett

The Museum has recently acquired an important sculpture by the internationally renowned artist Elizabeth Catlett. The magnificent sculpture was unveiled this May at the inaugural reception of the Friends of African-American Art, the Chrysler's newest support group. In Ife (Reclining Figure), Catlett celebrates the strength and dignity of this monumental reclining nude. Since her first prize in sculpture in 1940 for a mother-and-child figure at the American Negro Exposition in Chicago, Catlett has often used Mexican and African-American feminine iconography for her sculptures in wood, marble, and bronze. The technical brilliance and emotional power of Ife are revealed in the sensuous, undulating curves of the body carved from mahogany. As its inspiration the artist refers to the Ife tribe and culture that flourished from the 12th to the 15th century in West Africa (now Nigeria). The art from this region is known for its bronze and terracotta portrait-like heads. In the myths of the Yoruba people (who today number 10 million) Ife was the place where life began.

Born in Washington, D.C., as the granddaughter of slaves, Catlett studied at Howard University and received the first masters of fine arts degree from the University of Iowa, where she studied with artist Grant Wood. In the 1940s, she learned about modernism from sculptor Ossip Zadkine while in New York. Living in Mexico for the last 50 years, Catlett worked with the Taller de Gröfica Popular, a printmaking collective devoted to social causes. She went on to become the first woman to head the sculpture department at the National School of Fine Arts in Mexico City in 1959. Her choice of Mexican and African-American women and laborers as subject matter underscores her desire to focus on their virtue, dignity, and common humanity. At 86 she remains a doyenne, heading a distinguished list of African-American female artists.

This summer Catlett's Ife will be included in a recent acquisitions exhibit in the McKinnon Galleries of Modern Art.

For More Information or Images Please Contact the Chrysler at (757) 664-6200 or museum@chrysler.org

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