MMA - Elizabeth Catlett

This summer a tutoring client and I are going through the Magnificent Modern Art course from Art History Kids together. It's been really interesting so far. Art History isn't something I ever really learned about, so it's new to me. And so, of course, I'm going to keep some notes here as we go along!

Last week it was Magic Realism and the artist Frida Kahlo.

This week we are studying Social Realism, specifically

Elizabeth Catlett
Harlem Renaissance (1920s - 1940s)

sample artwork from the art movement

Augusta Savage
Lift Every Voice and Sing (The Harp)
1939

Jacob Lawrence
The Migration Series
1940-1941

Aaron Douglas
Aspiration
1936

sample artwork from this artist

Harriet
1975
linocut

Sharecropper (male)
1952
linocut

No hay escuela / There is no school
1962
linocut

Survivor
1983
linocut

I have always worked hard in America
1946
linocut

Standing Mother and Child
1978
bronze sculpture

Playmates
1992
color lithograph

focus piece of art from this artist

Sharecropper
1952

element & principle of art and design

PATTERN & CONTRAST

other notes (my suggestions)

Strathmore 400 Series Pastel Pad, Assorted Colors, 9"x12"
perfect for white pastel pencils!




Underground Railroad


Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom
by Carol Boston Weatherford


Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman
by Alan Schroeder


BOX: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom
by Carol Boston Weatherford


Unspoken: A Story From the Underground Railroad
by Henry Cole (wordless picture book)


Civil Rights Movement


Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
by Doreen Rappaport


Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks
by Suzanne Slade
1950 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry


Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice
by Phillip Hoose
March 2, 1955 (Montgomery AL)


Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down
by Andrea Davis Pinkney
February 1, 1960 (Greensboro NC)


Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World's Fastest Woman
by Kathleen Krull
1960 Summer Olympics


Let the Children March
by Monica Clark-Robinson
1963 (Birmingham AL)


Freedom Summer
by Deborah Wiles
Civil Rights Act of 1964


The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read
by Rita Lorraine Hubbard
1964 (Chattanooga TN)


Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop: The Sanitation Strike of 1968 by Alice Faye Duncan
1968 (Memphis TN)


Belle, The Last Mule at Gee's Bend: A Civil Rights Story
by Calvin Alexander Ramsey and Bettye Stroud


Harlem Renaissance


The Book Itch: Freedom, Truth & Harlem's Greatest Bookstore
by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson

Fun with Music Part 2: Jazz Musicians blog post


Printmaking Supplies


Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate

available in
3x5 inch
4 inch round
5 inch square
5x7 inch
6 inch square
8 inch round
8 x 10 inch
9x12 inch
12x14 inch

you will also need a hard rubber brayer, acrylic paint, cotton swabs (to make your designs), and baby wipes (to clean your gelatin plate)

I also like to use a sheet of wax paper to protect my printing plate

and more...

Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters
by MaryAnn Kohl and Kim Solga
social realism
Diego Rivera - "Giant Projector Mural," p.72
Jacob Lawrence - "Series Drawing," p.90

available online as a FREE PDF from Bright Ring Publishing

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