José Guadalupe Posada, Mexican, 1852 - 1913
engraved relief print
Gift of Clayton Kirking in memory of Rick Lancaster
© Phoenix Art Museum. All rights reserved. Photo by Ken Howie.
Posada was a pioneering printmaker whose works profoundly impacted the development of political critique in Mexican art and revived interest in printmaking in subsequent generations. Often referred to as the Mexican Goya, his prints for newspapers and street gazettes were alternately satirical, humorous, or cynical. He is best known for his images of calaveras (skulls), which reference both Mexican pre-Columbian art and popular Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) festivals. At first, he used skeletons as scathing caricatures of politicians and the bourgeoisie, but these later evolved into characters enacting the idiosyncrasies of everyday Mexican life. As Diego Rivera described his friend: “Posada was so outstanding that perhaps one day his name may be forgotten. He was so closely associated with the spirit of the Mexican people that he may end up just as an abstraction.”