Twentieth-century Mexican muralists are considered to be among the best in the world, but they werenยt the only practitioners of ยthe peopleยs art.ย Printmakers, too, used art to comment on the social and political conditions gripping their country. ยGrรกficos Polรญticos: Mexican Prints, 1900-1950ย is a collection of some of the best examples of this medium. With works by many of the most influential modern Mexican printmakers, including Josรฉ Guadalupe Posada, Alfredo Zalce and Pablo OยHiggins, all members of the Taller de Grรกfica Popular (Popular Graphic Art Workshop), ยGrรกficosย is a reflection of popular Mexican sentiments during the era that included the Mexican Revolution of 1910, WWI and WWII.
Representative of the exhibit is What May Happen (Lo que puede venir) by Leopoldo Mรฉndez, an apocalyptic scene done in the Mexican-realism style. The print features the eagle from the Mexican flag nailed to a cross, with a giant serpent at its feet slithering across the field about to swallow a priest. Nearby, soldiers are marching off to war, a skull and crossbones on their flag and dead bodies under their feet; in the forefront, Mรฉndez lies across the pages of an oversized book, calmly drawing a prancing skeleton. In this one scene, Mรฉndez eloquently comments on Mexican national pride, the church, war and the publicยs complacency.
Tuesdays-Sundays. Starts: Aug. 30. Continues through Jan. 13, 2007
This article appears in Aug 30 – Sep 5, 2007.