Artist

Eldzier Cortor

born Richmond, VA 1916-died Seaford, NY 2015
Born
Richmond, Virginia, United States
Died
Seaford, New York, United States
Active in
  • Chicago, Illinois, United States
Biography

A painter and master printmaker best known for his celebratory depictions of the African American woman, Eldzier Cortor was born in Richmond, Virginia, and raised in Chicago. Cortor went on to study at the Art Institute of Chicago, and in the 1930s worked as an easel painter for the Works Project Administration (WPA), depicting the lives of African Americans in Chicago's South Side. During this time, he helped establish the SouthSide Community Art Center.

In the 1940s, two fellowships from the Rosenwald Foundation allowed Cortor to study the Gullah community on the Sea Islands of Georgia and South Carolina, and to paint its African American inhabitants. Cortor found inspiration in the island’s people, heavily influenced by their African heritage. He also focused primarily on the female figure, stating: "the Black woman represents the Black race." Cortor returned time and again to the female figure reminiscent of his Gullah depictions, despite having lived in various countries of the African diaspora and changing artistic styles in the United States.

Works by this artist (13 items)

View all artworks
Eldzier Cortor, Classical Study No. 34, 1968, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist in memory of Sophia Cortor, 2012.72.10, © 1968, Eldzier Cortor
Classical Study No. 34
Artist
Date1968
oil on canvas
On view
Eldzier Cortor, Southern Gate, 1942-1943, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, 1980.137.19
Southern Gate
Artist
Date1942-1943
oil on canvas
Not on view
Eldzier Cortor, L'Abbatoire No. VI, late 1950s - early 1960s, woodcut on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist in memory of Sophia Cortor, 2012.72.7, © Eldzier Cortor
L’Abbatoire No. VI
Artist
Datelate 1950s - early 1960s
woodcut on paper
Not on view
Eldzier Cortor, Figure/Assemblage I, late 1950s - early 1960s, woodcut on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist in memory of Sophia Cortor, 2012.72.5, © Eldzier Cortor
Figure/​Assemblage I
Artist
Datelate 1950s - early 1960s
woodcut on paper
Not on view

Related Books

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African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, The Civil Rights Movement, and Beyond
African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond offers a rich vision of twentieth-century visual culture. An essay by Richard Powell sets the stage: his analyses of works by Sargent Johnson, Renée Stout, Eldzier Cortor, and Alma Thomas give the reader a rubric for considering other works that range from the Harlem Renaissance to the decades beyond the civil rights era, a period that saw tremendous social and political change. The forty-three artists included here worked in every style current during those decades, from documentary realism to abstraction, from expressionism to postmodern assemblage. They consistently touch universal themes, but they also evoke specific aspects of the African American experience—the African Diaspora, jazz, and the persistent power of religion.