Chicago City Wire

The Art Institute of Chicago will present a retrospective exhibition on Elizabeth Catlett, titled “A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies,” from August 30, 2025, to January 4, 2026. The exhibition will feature more than 100 works from Catlett’s career as a sculptor and printmaker.

Catlett is recognized for her role as an artist, feminist, and social activist. Her work addressed issues such as poverty, racism, and imperialism throughout nearly a century marked by significant historical changes. She was born in Washington, DC, during the Great Depression and experienced class inequality and racial violence while pursuing her education in modern art. After spending time in Chicago among other Black artists like Margaret Burroughs and Charles White, she moved to Mexico in 1946 where she continued her artistic practice.

Sarah Kelly Oehler, curator for Arts of the Americas and vice president of Curatorial Strategy at the Art Institute of Chicago, said: “As visitors go through the show, they will see how Catlett employed specific media in a way that seamlessly ties her art with her activism. She harnessed her printmaking to communicate deliberate messages while her sculptures are often more universal in meaning, and beautifully convey her exceptional command of three-dimensional form. Visitors will have an opportunity to see these works in conversation with each other.”

The exhibition is organized by the Brooklyn Museum and the National Gallery of Art in collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago. Dalila Scruggs (Smithsonian American Art Museum), Catherine Morris (Brooklyn Museum), Mary Lee Corlett (National Gallery of Art), Rashieda Witter (formerly National Gallery of Art), Carla Forbes (Brooklyn Museum), and Sarah Kelly Oehler (Art Institute of Chicago) contributed to organizing the exhibition.

Funding for this exhibition comes from several sources including the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Henry Luce Foundation. Additional support for its presentation in Chicago has been provided by the Walter and Karla Goldschmidt Foundation, Elisabeth and William Landes, and Dr. Peggy A. Montes.

Annual leadership support for museum operations—including exhibitions—comes from members of the Luminary Trust such as Karen Gray-Krehbiel and John Krehbiel Jr., Kenneth C. Griffin, Josef and Margot Lakonishok, Liz and Eric Lefkofsky, Ann and Samuel Mencoff, Sylvia Neil and Dan Fischel, Cari and Michael Sacks, Earl and Brenda Shapiro Foundation among others.