His work typically features elongated nude figures in intimate settings,[1] influenced by both traditional African art and European surrealism.
[2][3] Cortor is known for his style of realism that makes accurate depictions of poor, Black living conditions look fantastic as he distorts perspective.
[12] He said "That was the most important influence in all my work, for to this day you will find in my handling of the human figure that cylindrical and lyrical quality I was taught...to appreciate in African art.
"[13] Growing up, he was an avid reader of the Chicago Defender, which was a popular newspaper that focused on celebrating the successes of African Americans.
[14] He also had success in white publications and was featured in the Chicago Tribune in 1939 due to his involvement in the South Side Community Art Center.
[15] This is ultimately translated into the main thematic focus of his artwork, which is to portray African Americans in a positive light and highlight their beauty and achievements.
For the majority of his career, Cortor played with different representations of the black female figure and how to represent her strength and beauty.
In 1944 and in 1945, Cortor won the Julius Rosenwald Foundation Fellowships consecutively, which allowed him to travel to the Sea Islands off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina.
She conveys a feeling of eternity and a continuance of life.”[6]" Through Cortor's life his style varied wildly, he shifted from surrealism to print making and many other mediums.
When an artists begins creating works in childhood and continues through their entire life it is highly likely the art style would change.
"[20] His treatment of women has been criticized, for instance in a 1985 article in Art, which described the figure in Southern Gate (1942–43) as, "Stripped of integrity and reduced to a mere object…"[21] According to Adrienne Childs, Cortor's Cuban Souvenir "presents an exoticized black woman whose red dress, red lips…evoke the stereotypical notion of the Latin female sexuality."
Cortor wanted to depict the living conditions in these poor, Black areas of Chicago in a way that was not exploitative of their poverty.
Cortor conveys the small size of the room through flattening the image and placing objects almost on top of on another with conflicting lines of perspective.
These clashing patterns evoke the African American quilting tradition which continues Cortor's dedication to depicting the beauty of Black culture.
The vertical lines of the figures, wall paper, and wood-stove are contrasted by diagonal floor boards and horizontal patterns.
The swirling lines and the subtle incorporation of vibrant colors implies a sense of visual movement of the dancers (Bearden 1993: 57).
[6] The women's faces’ are depicted like sculptures, giving them a marble feel within the painting, referencing African art along with the decorative patterning.
She is also wearing a red, yellow and green scarf which is symbolic of the Pan-African flag, which pays homage to her African roots.
He was inspired to make the L’Abbatoire series by his experiences in Haiti when several of his friends were killed by François “Papa Doc” Duvalier's dictatorial regime.
I believe this is intentional as the print on the left was made about ten years later and is reflective of how the event had been festering in Cortor's mind.
[28] The 1988 group exhibition "Three Masters", at New York's Kenkeleba Gallery, featured Cortor's work alongside that of Hughie Lee-Smith and Archibald Motley.
[29] The solo show "Eldzier Cortor: Master Printmaker" was exhibited at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute in 2002.