I Have Special Reservations
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. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1996.47.2_PS2.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
I Have Special Reservations
Portfolio
"The Negro Woman" series of 15 linoleum cuts, 1946-47 [renamed "The Black Woman Series" in 1971], #4
Date
1946
Medium
Linocut on cream wove paper
Classification
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
Rights
© artist or artist's estate
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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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