Seated Woman (Mexican Woman)

Seated Woman (Mexican Woman) — Eleanor Coen. 1943.

Medium: Color lithograph from four stones on white wove paper. Dimensions: Image: 35.6 × 22.7 cm (14 1/16 × 8 15/16 in.); Sheet: 40.5 × 29.2 cm (16 × 11 1/2 in.).

Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

Coen was already an experienced color lithographer before her work with the Taller de Gráfica Popular in 1942, having trained at the School of the Art Institute and worked on the Federal Art Project. In Seated Woman , and its male pendant Lottery Tickets , she exploited both the illustrative and painterly qualities of the medium to create refreshingly unsentimental images of Mexican daily life. In taking up this common subject for American artists, Coen resisted a folkloric or stereotypical approach. She instead imparted Seated Woman with a monumentality of form and classical dignity that convey respect for this individual and the indigenous culture she represents. Español: Coen era ya una experta en la producción de litografías en color cuando empezó a colaborar con el Taller de Gráfica Popular en 1942. Había estudiado en la escuela del Art Institute y trabajado en el Federal Art Project. En Mujer sentada y su contraparte masculina Billetes de lotería , Coen echa mano de las cualidades ilustrativas y pictóricas del medio para crear imágenes de la vida cotidiana mexicana sin sentimentalismos. Al retomar este tema tan común entre artistas estadounidenses, Coen se resistó a caer en aproximaciones folclóricas o estereotipadas y en su lugar le confirió a la Mujer sentada una monumentalidad formal y una dignidad clásica que transmiten respeto por el sujeto y por la cultura indígena que representa.

Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.