I have given the world my songs: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This color linocut depicts a woman playing a guitar. Wearing a knee-length dress, she is seated on a square four legged stool. Her sleeves are rolled up to her elbows and she rests the guitar on her lap. In the background is a small vignette, done in bright blue tones that depict a man in a hood attacking another man. Below them is a large burning cross. There is a handwritten title below the image in pencil. It is signed by the artist on the bottom right. The back is blank.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1946-1947; printed 1989
• Created by: Elizabeth Catlett, Mexican and American, 1915 - 2012
• Type: linocuts
• Medium: ink and graphite on paper
• Dimensions: H x W (image with title): 8 1/8 × 5 1/16 in. (20.6 × 12.8 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (image): 7 1/2 × 5 1/16 in. (19 × 12.8 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (sheet): 13 1/2 × 9 9/16 in. (34.3 × 24.3 cm)
• Place made: Mexico City, Mexico, Latin America, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Art
• Topic: Identity
• Topic: Music
• Topic: Musicians
• Topic: Resistance
• Topic: Violence
• Topic: Women
• Object number: 2017.21.5
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Winifred Hervey
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: © 2020 Catlett Mora Family Trust/Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.