Pensive

Recognized as both a skilled printmaker and sculptor, Elizabeth Catlett's impressive career spanned more than 70 years. In both media, Catlett's celebration of the African American female form is evident. Lowery Stokes Sims wrote of Catlett's depiction of women, "Catlett's commitment to the female form has been commented on many times. Invariably it is a celebration of people of the peasant and working class. Her women are characterized by sturdy, voluptuous physiques that invite comparisons with the well-known female presences that predominate the oeuvre of the Mexican sculpture Francisco Zuñiga...In Catlett's oeuvre, the female form is never gratuitously eroticized, but rather analyzed and defined for its manifestation of fecundity and strength." (June Kelly Gallery, Elizabeth Catlett: Sculpture, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1993, p. 5)

Modeled in 1946, Pensive depicts "a working woman with muscular arms crossed at the base of the torso and simplified facial features that convey careworn sorrow." (M.A. Herzog, Elizabeth Catlett: An American Artist in Mexico, Seattle, Washington, 2000, p. 69). While not idealized, Catlett's subject retains a strong sense of determination and strength despite her circumstances. The present example is one of ten bronze castings of Pensive. The tenth and final version was cast in 1995 and resides in the collection of Michigan State University's Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum.