A few years ago, I picked up an Elizabeth Catlett lithograph of a Mexican girl with a stoic and determined stare. It was the first of Catlett’s images that I’d come across from her years of depicting the endurance of Mexico’s people, particularly women, in her art.
The print had no title, only her familiar cursive signature “ECatlett” and the year 1951. I also found information that it was published by Associated American Artists of New York. I had not heard of this group, did a quick Google search, and then put the thought of it aside until last week when the name came up again in an art portfolio at auction.
The portfolio was titled “Fine Art Color Prints By Celebrated American Artists,” published in 1945 by Peoples Book Club Inc. of Chicago. Catlett wasn’t represented in the portfolio, but the introduction was written by Reeves Lewenthal, a former journalist who formed Associated American Artists in 1934. All of the paintings were done by artists associated with Lewenthal’s company.
The 21″ x 15″ portfolio contained the names and works of nine male artists, along with short bios and messages from each regarding the selected piece. Each print was stamped “AAA.” Among the artists was one of my favorites, Miguel Covarrubias, a Mexican artist, illustrator and anthropologist. At auction some years ago, I bought his lithograph of a Mexican street scene, and another time, I bought a series of brilliantly colored Life magazine illustrations he painted based on the play “Carmen Jones.” Another artist was Thomas Hart Benton, who created folksy paintings of hardscrabble but noble people.
Catlett’s Mexican girl was titled “Sentado Nina.” It was published about five years after she arrived in Mexico City in 1946 with her then-husband artist Charles White to work with Taller de Grafica Popular (TGP, or the People’s Graphic Workshop). Catlett had received a Julius Rosenwald Foundation Fellowship to travel to Mexico.
She and White soon dissolved their marriage, and she wed Francisco Mora, a TGP artist. They were both members of the collective until 1966. White was also a member of the group. It was here where he was influenced by such well-known muralists as Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros, and saw art created for and about the people.
One of Catlett’s first works was a series of 15 linocuts titled “Negro Woman (1946),” which showed the suffering and strength of working-class African American women – a depiction she carried over into her works on Mexican women.
The TGP was founded in 1937 as a way to produce affordable artwork for the masses. Its cadre of artists created realistic works embedded with political and social commentary. They produced prints, handbills, posters and children’s books.
Because of its politics during the Cold War, the TGP was accused of having communist ties and anyone associated with it was seen as suspect. That included Catlett, who was harassed by the U.S. government in Mexico in much the same way it was terrorizing citizens back home. To prevent being deported, Catlett decided to become a Mexican citizen. She was granted citizenship in 1962. The U.S. Department of State deemed her an “undesirable alien” and denied her entry into the country. She was finally granted a visa in 1971 to attend a solo exhibition at the Studio Museum of Harlem.
Like the TGP, Associated American Artists sought to move art from the walls of the wealthy to the homes of the mainstream (in particular, the middle class). Lewenthal paid artists $200 to create original works – which he reproduced in editions of no more than 250 – and sold for $5 each. Although founded in the middle of the Depression, the business made money, thanks to Lewenthal’s marketing prowess.
He sold lithographs, etchings and wood engravings in department stores and through catalogs, and advertised in magazines. He later opened a gallery on Fifth Avenue in New York, where Eleanor Roosevelt dropped by on occasion, including once during an exhibit of Benton’s works. Lewenthal also opened a gallery in Chicago.
Some African American artists also exhibited at the New York gallery: Emma Amos and Mavis Pusey were among them. William E. Smith and Charles Sallee Jr. were included in a January 1942 exhibit of artists from the Karamu House in Chicago, which trained African Americans in the arts. Roosevelt was the honorary chairwoman and promoted the exhibit in her My Day column. Graphic artist Robert Blackburn, who later opened his own printmaking shop and became a noted printmaker, worked for the Associated American Artists.
Lewenthal also partnered with the TGP to publish works of some of its artists. In 1946, his company published the lithograph “El Obrero de Mina de Plata” by Mora, as well as a portfolio of 12 lithographs titled “Mexican People: Lithographs of the Taller de Grafica Popular” in an edition of 250.
Most of the works published by Lewenthal showed Americans realistically living their daily lives, whether in rural or city areas. After World War II, the focus shifted to abstract art. His contracted artists created commercial advertising, and his company got into ceramics and fabric design. The company separated into two entities, with Lewenthal handling a greeting-cards operation and decorative arts, and Sylvan Cole, who had worked with him since 1946, taking over fine arts sales and the New York gallery, which closed in 2000.
