the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Mar 31, 2025
Painter, sculptor, and printmaker Elizabeth Catlett (1915–2012) was a leading figure in the American Black Arts movement as well as a lifelong communist and educator. A major exhibit of more than 150 of her artworks is at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. until July 5 and will reopen at the Art Institute of Chicago from August 30, 2025 to January 4, 2026.
Won to communist ideas by the time she studied art at Howard University, Catlett helped workers organize in each of the many cities where she taught and made art. In Harlem she gave dressmaking classes involving plenty of political discussions with her working-class students.
Catlett loved to portray black women at work and in other everyday situations, and always with dignity. Her distinctive style was influenced by African art and by the Mexican muralists, like Diego Rivera, with whom she worked for many years.
Find a way to get to D.C. or Chicago to see her stirring artworks.