Sister Corita Kent
1918–1986
A Sister of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Corita Kent graduated from Los Angeles’s Immaculate Heart College in 1941 and received a MFA in art history from the University of Southern California in 1951. From 1964 to 1968 she headed the art department at Immaculate Heart College, garnering a progressive reputation for the program. In vibrant serigraphs and screenprints produced during the 1960s and 1970s, Kent demonstrated a deep political and social engagement: a strong antiwar sentiment and equally strong support of the civil rights movement, but also a belief in effective communication and creative pedagogy. Many works from this period incorporate quotations and slogans collected from a range of literary, biblical, and pop culture sources.
Works such as HA demonstrate an interest not only in the meaning of words but in their sound and their shape on the page. HA includes the word LIFE, appropriated from the masthead of the magazine but rendered upside down and in reverse, while the rest of the letters appear distorted. The letters hover between their appearance as abstract shapes and their resolution into recognizable signifiers. Kent cited the modernist architect and designer Charles Eames and the nonfigurative possibilities of Abstract Expressionist painters such as Mark Rothko as influences. The legibility of her prints attracted an audience looking for accessible meaning, Kent explained, but her graphic and colorful style would also introduce them to ideas about form and encourage them to understand the visual message.
Introduction
Corita Kent (November 20, 1918 – September 18, 1986), born Frances Elizabeth Kent and also known as Sister Mary Corita Kent, was an American artist, designer and educator, and former religious sister. Key themes in her work included Christianity, and social justice. She was also a teacher at the Immaculate Heart College.
Corita was born Frances Elizabeth Kent on November 20 in the year of 1918. At 18 years of age, Kent entered the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart, which were known to be very progressive and welcomed creativity. Frances joined a teaching order, taking the name Sister Mary Corita. She received a bachelor's degree at Immaculate Heart College and a master's degree at University of Southern California. She was the head of the art department at Immaculate Heart College. where she also taught a wide variety of different painting styles. Her artwork contained her own spiritual expression and love for God.
Kent's primary medium was screen printing, also known as Serigraphy. She became self-taught after she sent away for a DIY silk screening kit. Her innovative methods pushed back the limitations of two-dimensional media of the times. Kent's emphasis on printing was partially due to her wish for democratic outreach, as she wished for affordable art for the masses. Her artwork, with its messages of love and peace, was particularly popular during the social upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s.
Due to opposition from Cardinal James McIntyre (who had a particular dislike for Kent), the sisters would eventually be forced out of their schools in Los Angeles—with the exception of the college—and most of the sisters left the order entirely, while keeping the larger school. Kent, however, would move to the East Coast and begin to work independently.
After a cancer diagnosis in the early 1970s, she entered an extremely prolific period in her career, including the Rainbow Swash design on the LNG storage tank in Boston, and the 1985 version of the United States Postal Service's special Love stamp.
In recent years, Corita has gained increased recognition for her role in the pop art movement. Critics and theorists previously failed to count her work as part of any mainstream "canon," but in the last few years there has been a resurgence of attention given to Kent. As both a nun and a woman making art in the twentieth century, she was in many ways cast to the margins of the different movements she was a part of.
Corita's art was her activism, and her spiritually-informed social commentary promoted love and tolerance.
Wikidata identifier
Q5170723
Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License . Accessed April 28, 2025.
Introduction
A Roman Catholic nun from 1936-1968, Corita gained fame as a pop artist in the 1960s. As the head of the art department of Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles, she taught students to find art in everyday life, as well as everyday objects. As her classes grew, so did her fame - in 1967 her works were displayed in over 150 shows in the Unites States alone. This led her to leave public life in 1968, though she continued to work. Her most well-known work was painted on a large gas storage tank in suburban Boston during the Vietnam War - a series of large strokes of paint which instigated controversy as some claimed to see the image of Ho Chi Minh hidden within the strokes.
Country of birth
United States
Roles
Artist, designer, educator, graphic designer
ULAN identifier
500014156
Names
Corita, Corita Kent (Sister Mary Corita), Sister Mary Corita Kent, Sister Corita, Sister Mary Corita, Frances Elisabeth Kent, Mary Corita Kent, M. Corita, Mary Corita
Information from the Getty Research Institute's Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License. Accessed April 28, 2025.
