Cast bronze, mounted on a wooden base, 1966. Approximately 610 mm; 24 inches high (not including the base). With the initials "EC" incised on the base.
Provenance: private collection, California.
This extraordinary figure is a wonderful example of Elizabeth Catlett's early expressive work in bronze. Catlett first began making bronze sculpture in the early 1960s. At the same time, Catlett began blurring the lines between Mexican and African American representation in her figurative sculpture, and often referenced the ancient Olmec people of southern Mexico. Samella Lewis recorded in her 1984 monograph The Art of Elizabeth Catlett three different versions of this figure: Olmec Bather #2, a 26 cm high bronze and Olmec Bather #3, a 56 cm high wood were made in 1967. Lewis illustrates Olmec Bather #2 which is scaled down version, nearly identical in pose. This larger bronze version is a very scarce - we have not located another cast.
This sculpture is also the precursor to Catlett's 1967 bronze Bañista Olmeca of which she made in two versions-- a study that was 43 inches high and the final version, her 9-foot high commission for El Instituto Politécnico Nacional in Mexico City. This important and monumental figure is one Catlett's largest works and celebrates both Mexico's historic civilizations and indigenous women. It is documented in both Lewis and Melanie Herzog's monographs. Herzog recorded Catlett describing her fusing of African and Mexican influences in this work: "It is a tall woman with a big bust and a big behind and she's got a floating towel around her. I called it Olmec because it has Black features, and those were Black people in Mexico despite what many anthropologists say." This larger version of the standing figure has a different, more frontal pose with the arrms resting at the sides. Lewis p. 180 and 188; Herzog p. 124.
