Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012), Glory, 1981, cast bronze with a black patina on a wooden base, 14 x 9 1/2 x 10 inches, museum purchase with funds provided by Wellesley College Friends of Art 2017.235

Glory is the first sculpture by Elizabeth Catlett to enter the Davis collections. A prominent African-American sculptor and printmaker who depicted the twentieth-century African-American experience, Catlett was raised in Washington, D.C. and attended Howard University. She pursued graduate studies under the tutelage of Grant Wood at the University of Iowa, where she was the first student to earn an MFA in sculpture. After graduating she moved to Mexico to study printmaking and stayed, living and working abroad for the majority of her life. Her sculptures and prints are primarily figural, as she used the human form to push social issues. A visionary and political artist, Glory exhibits Catlett’s representation of the strength and beauty of African-American women. This is an early cast of a portrait bust of Glory Van Scott, a performer and educator well-known for her work as the principal dancer with several Broadway dance companies in the mid-twentieth century. From a total edition of nine sculptures, the version at the Davis is differentiated by a distinctive black patina, which is unlike the copper-colored patinas of the later casts.