I Have Special Reservations

Elizabeth Catlett

Brooklyn Museum photograph

Object Label

This image of segregation is part of The Black Woman series, which Elizabeth Catlett produced at the Taller de Gráfica Popular in Mexico City in 1946. Like the great Mexican muralists, Catlett was committed to art in service of a larger social good. This series commemorates the historical oppression, resistance, and survival of African American women in various settings—quietly heroic at work, as mothers, and as activists.

Caption

Elizabeth Catlett (American, 1915–2012). I Have Special Reservations, 1946. Linocut on cream wove paper, Sheet: 15 1/8 x 11 3/8 in. (38.4 x 28.9 cm) Image: 6 3/8 x 6 5/16 in. (16.2 x 16 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Emily Winthrop Miles Fund, 1996.47.2. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Gallery

Not on view

Title

I Have Special Reservations

Date

1946

Medium

Linocut on cream wove paper

Classification

Print

Dimensions

Sheet: 15 1/8 x 11 3/8 in. (38.4 x 28.9 cm) Image: 6 3/8 x 6 5/16 in. (16.2 x 16 cm)

Signatures

Signed in graphite below image at lower right: "E Catlett '46"

Inscriptions

Inscribed in graphite below image at lower left: "19/20 I have special reservations ..."; and at bottom of sheet at lower left: "12."

Credit Line

Emily Winthrop Miles Fund

Accession Number

1996.47.2

Frequent Art Questions

  • Tell me more about Elizabeth Catlett and her connection to the subject of this print.

    Catlett was the daughter of former slaves. After studying art in the United States, she moved to Mexico and spent the rest of her career there. She worked into her 90s! She was concerned above all with the social dimension of her art.
    This print alludes to the segregation experienced by African Americans in the United States in the mid-20th century; this woman is riding a bus with separate seating for white and black passengers.
    I think the sharp and jagged lines of her printmaking also express the tension of her subject.

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