My Favorite Feminists

Ep. 4 Ribonucleoproteins and the Undesirable Alien


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This episode Megan & Milena cover artist and sociopolitical activist Elizabeth Catlett & Marie Daly, the first black woman in the USA to earn a PhD in chemistry.



Elizabeth Catlett

























Born 1915, Elizabeth Catlett was a prolific
African American sculptor, printmaker and activist in the over seventy years
she worked. Spending the majority of her life in Mexico, she was declared an
‘undesirable alien’ during the Cold War for her socially progressive views.
This episode we explore the how’s and why’s of her artistic development, the
importance of escaping mid century American segregation and dropping a hot
potato for a hot tamale. 







Selected Post-Revolution Mexican Mural Art



1931 Mural by Diego Rivera, The Uprising. Diego, along with the other Los Tres Grandes (Siqueiros & Orozco) painters used public art to combat class and social inequality in Mexico



Segment of a massive mural by David Siqueiros, From the Dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz to the Revolution. In it, Siquerios documents the transition from dictatorship to the uprise of the working class, resulting in Revolution.



1944 Mural The Clowns of War Arguing in Hell by Jose Clemente Orozco. Political art commentary extended past Mexico to include the horrors of WWII







Selection of Elizabeth’s Prints



1946 Linocut, I Have Special Reservations. This is part of the series The Negro Woman (renamed The Black Woman Series in 1971). This series earned her the prestigious Julius Rosenwald grant that took her to Mexico in 1946



1952 Linocut La Presa (The Dam) – this is one of many contributions Elizabeth made while at the Mexican artist collective, the Taller de Gráfica Popular (People’s Graphic Arts Workshop) celebrating Mexican revolutionary social and economic progress.



Selection of Elizabeth’s Sculptures



This is the 1947 ceramic sculpture Head of a Young Woman. Her sculptures are typically busts, ranging in material from ceramics to bronze, wood and stone. Her soft abstraction of the body puts her work along the likes of Henry Moore and Brancusi, Big Deal early 20th century artists.



Made in 1970 in response to the killing of a Black Panthers member, Elizabeth created Target Practice. Almost 50 years later, the subject of black men being casualties to police brutality is as relevant and fucked up as ever



People mentioned this episode:



* Mamie Phipps Clark, check out last episode * James V. Herring, art historian * James Lesesne Wells, Harlem Renaissance graphic designer * James. A Porter, author of Modern Negro Art and influential professor for Elizabeth *
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