# Elizabeth Catlett artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/elizabeth-catlett/
Profile generated: 2026-05-02T20:55:00.000Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1915-04-15
- Death date: 2012-04-02
- Nationality: American, Mexican
- Movements: African American art, Social Realism, Taller de Gráfica Popular (Mexican printmaking collective)
- Common media: Sculpture (bronze, wood, terracotta, stone), Printmaking (linocut, lithograph), Drawing

## About Elizabeth Catlett

Elizabeth Catlett (1915–2012) was an American-born Mexican sculptor, printmaker, and educator whose work centers on the experiences of Black women, social justice, and the African American community. Born in Washington, D.C., she was the granddaughter of formerly enslaved people and pursued art at a time when opportunities for Black women artists were severely limited. After early training at Howard University and the University of Iowa, a 1946 fellowship brought her to Mexico City, where she joined the Taller de Gráfica Popular, a celebrated printmaking collective. She later headed the sculpture department at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas and became a Mexican citizen, spending most of her career in Cuernavaca. Catlett's practice spans sculpture in bronze, wood, and terracotta alongside linocuts and lithographs that combine bold figuration with activist themes. Her work is held by major museums including MoMA and is widely represented at auction.

## Common works and media

Catlett is best known for bronze, wood, and terracotta sculptures depicting women, mothers, and figures from African American history. Her printed works include linocuts and lithographs, often published in numbered editions, featuring portraits, laborers, and civil-rights themes. Drawings and posters produced during her years with the Taller de Gráfica Popular also appear at auction. Collectors may encounter both unique sculptures and editioned prints, with subjects ranging from intimate mother-and-child compositions to bold political imagery.

## Market and appraisal context

Elizabeth Catlett maintains a deep and active secondary market with 722 recorded auction lots (603 with realized prices) spanning from 2001 through April 2026. Her auction footprint is anchored by Swann Auction Galleries—the dominant house for African American fine art—alongside Black Art Auction, Weschler's, Rachel Davis Fine Arts, Bonhams, and Christie's. Price dispersion is exceptionally wide: the recorded range runs from $60 for minor prints and posthumous or 'after' editions to $485,000 for unique sculptures, with a median of $3,500 and an interquartile range of $1,875–$7,500. The strongest prices are consistently achieved by unique bronze and wood sculptures, led by the 1946 'Reclined Figure' which realized $161,000 at Swann (October 2024) and 'Olmec Bather' which brought $88,900 at Swann (April 2026). Editioned lithographs and linocuts typically trade between $500 and $3,500, making them the more accessible entry point for collectors. Liquidity remains healthy with 38 lots offered in the trailing twelve months, though this represents a decline from 56 in the prior period, suggesting a modest contraction in supply rather than demand.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

Elizabeth Catlett maintains a deep and active secondary market with 722 recorded auction lots (603 with realized prices) spanning from 2001 through April 2026. Her auction footprint is anchored by Swann Auction Galleries—the dominant house for African American fine art—alongside Black Art Auction, Weschler's, Rachel Davis Fine Arts, Bonhams, and Christie's. Price dispersion is exceptionally wide: the recorded range runs from $60 for minor prints and posthumous or 'after' editions to $485,000 for unique sculptures, with a median of $3,500 and an interquartile range of $1,875–$7,500. The strongest prices are consistently achieved by unique bronze and wood sculptures, led by the 1946 'Reclined Figure' which realized $161,000 at Swann (October 2024) and 'Olmec Bather' which brought $88,900 at Swann (April 2026). Editioned lithographs and linocuts typically trade between $500 and $3,500, making them the more accessible entry point for collectors. Liquidity remains healthy with 38 lots offered in the trailing twelve months, though this represents a decline from 56 in the prior period, suggesting a modest contraction in supply rather than demand.

### Appraisal notes

Appraisily uses Catlett's auction history—722 lots across 25 years—to anchor fair-market and replacement-value opinions. For a given work, the appraisal workflow cross-references: (1) photographs to confirm medium, patina, and condition; (2) dimensions against known editions and cataloguing; (3) signature, foundry marks, or edition numbering to establish authenticity; (4) provenance documentation (gallery receipts, exhibition labels, estate stamps); (5) comparable lots from the same medium, period, and subject—drawing on the 603 priced records, with particular weight given to recent results at Swann, Black Art Auction, Bonhams, and Christie's for sculptures, and at Weschler's and Rachel Davis Fine Arts for prints. Unique sculptures are appraised against a different comparable set than editioned prints because the price tiers differ by an order of magnitude. Posthumous or 'after' editions (e.g., the $125 'Sharecropper' lithograph attributed as 'after' Catlett) require explicit qualification in the appraisal report. Condition issues such as foxing on prints, patina loss on bronzes, or frame damage are noted and reflected in the valuation adjustment.

### Valuation factors

- [object Object]
- [object Object]
- [object Object]
- [object Object]
- [object Object]
- [object Object]

### Collector notes

- [object Object]
- [object Object]
- [object Object]
- [object Object]
- [object Object]

### Market caveats

- [object Object]
- [object Object]
- [object Object]
- [object Object]
- [object Object]

### Market evidence sources

- Appraisily: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/elizabeth-catlett/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0
- Invaluable / District Auction: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-elizabeth-catlett-rafaela-color-screenprint-69-c-6457d0d284
- Invaluable / Swann Auction Galleries: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-elizabeth-catlett-1915-2012-reclined-figure-182-c-6994b33b5b
- Invaluable / Swann Auction Galleries: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-elizabeth-catlett-1915-2012-olmec-bather-1-170-c-146499c987
- Invaluable / Cutler Bay Auctions: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-elizabeth-catlett-1915-2012-american-10-c-4984949a4b
- Invaluable / Bonhams: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-elizabeth-catlett-1915-2012-pensive-16-5-8-in-42-2-cm-high-on-a-1-in-2-5-cm-high-marble-base-modeled-in-1946-79-c-3d718fa2a7
- Invaluable / Swann Auction Galleries: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-elizabeth-catlett-1915-2012-olmec-bather-1967-74-c-9ac89015a8
- Invaluable / Weschler's: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-elizabeth-catlett-american-1915-2012-playmates-from-for-my-people-color-lithograph-on-cream-wove-paper-1992-sight-size-400-x-349-mm-15-3-4-x13-3-4-in-frame-27-1-2-x-25-1-4-in-69-9-x-64-1-cm-255-c-e46f9b1f20
- Invaluable / Weschler's: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-elizabeth-catlett-american-1915-2012-walking-blindly-from-for-my-people-color-lithograph-on-wove-paper-sight-size-400-x-349-mm-15-3-4-x13-3-4-in-frame-27-1-2-x-25-1-4-in-69-9-x-64-1-cm-254-c-1815ef33b0
- Invaluable / Weschler's: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-elizabeth-catlett-american-1915-2012-glory-linoleum-cut-in-color-sight-size-394-x-248-mm-15-1-2-x-9-3-4-in-frame-25-1-2-x-19-in-64-8-x-48-3-cm-46-c-47741f4382
- Invaluable / Rachel Davis Fine Arts: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-elizabeth-catlett-american-1915-2012-woodcut-with-linocut-325-c-e9a12eba57
- Invaluable / Ahlers & Ogletree Inc.: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-sharecropper-lithograph-after-elizabeth-catlett-825-c-d36fcf7994
- Invaluable / DuMouchelles: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-elizabeth-catlett-american-1925-2012-lithograph-in-colors-on-wove-paper-1992-walking-blindly-h-22-75-w-18-5-frame-size-h-31-125-w-25-125-1037-c-ed6843a763

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine identity research from museum and library authority sources with public auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available.

## Sources

- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n84229535
- RKD (Netherlands Institute for Art History): https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/15948
- VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/264149294291280521420/
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q290331
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Catlett
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/1037
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500011840