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Jos Guadalupe Posada, Lampooner Author(s): Ilan Stavans Reviewed work(s): Source: The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda

Arts, Vol. 16 (Summer, 1990), pp. 54-71 Published by: Florida International University Board of Trustees on behalf of The Wolfsonian-FIU Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1504066 . Accessed: 28/09/2012 00:46
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Jose

Guadalupe

Posada,
By Ilan Stavans

Lampooner

ince the turn of the century, political cartoons and murals in Mexico have been considered forms of street art. Still a highly cultivated medium, political cartoons were published from the 1850s on in prints and chapbooks that captured the imagination of the masses-rarely the sophisticated, highly literate elite. Likejournalistic accounts, they offered quick insight into contemporary affairs, and then they perished. In the decades before the socialist revolution of 1910, millions were enlightened and entertained byJose Guadalupe Posada'slurid, eye-catching, marvelous engravings, which were often accompanied by jocular lyrics. Murals, on the other hand, were less ephemeral, more detailed and colorful. In the 1930s, the busy passer-by might see aspects of Mexico's history painted from a Marxistpoint of view in murals by Diego Rivera,David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Jose Clemente Orozco. While Posada was incapable of seeing the pedagogic possibilities of muralism as a form of political activism, preferring to rely on the graphic arts to educate the populace, Riveraand his circle later acknowledged their debt to Posada's hyperbolic illustrations,both in their art and their writings, and by doing so created a bridge between the two forms of street art. But Posada, it seems to me, was more than just a populist artist. He invented the most fascinating freaks and grotesque monstrosities, and in that regard he is comparable to Goya, Rudolph von Ripper, Alfred Kubin, Sibylle Ruppert, and the creators of the fabulous beasts and demons of the medieval and Renaissance worlds. Posada was born 2 February 1852 at number 47 Calle de Los Angeles (later Calle de Posada) in the city of Aguascalientes, in central Mexico.' The fourth of six (some sources say eight) children, of which only three survived, he was baptized in the Parroquiade la Asunci6n. Both of his parents were of Indian descent and illiterate. German Posada, his father, was a baker who owned a small shop; PetraAguilar,his mother, was a housewife. Their oldest son, Jose Mariade la Concepci6n, died when still a child. The second, Jose Cirilo,born in 1839, became a schoolteacher. He taught Jose Guadalupe to read and write, until the latter and his younger brother Ciriacowere sent to a municipal school in the San Marcos neighborhood. Apparently, Posada enjoyed drawing even as a child, for he made humorous portraits of Josd Cirilo and his young pupils. Unfortunately, none of these early artistic experiments can be found. As an adolescent, Posada studied with Antonio Varelaat the Municipal Academy of Drawing in Aguascalientes. By 1867 he began practicingthe "trade of the painter," and the following year he apprenticed in the lithography
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Mendez Leopoldo (Mexican, in his Posada 1902-1969), An workshop (detail). Posada watchesas indignant government troopsassault unarmed civilians.

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workshop of TrinidadPedroza. Politically active, Pedroza supported the creation of a local government and spoke out against the ineffectiveness of city politicians-particularly the influential Colonel JesuisGomez Portugal-and the economic and militaryintervention of France and the United States in Mexicanaffairs.In addition to lithography,Posadalearned the basic printmaking techniques of engraving wood and metal. He also began producing lampoons and illustrations for magazines and books, selling some to Pedroza's own independent newspaper, ElJicote (The Wasp).Manyof them featured Colonel Portugalas their main target. Biographical data is scarce, so it is impossible to say precisely when or how Posada's political conscience was awakened. Some, like Octavio Paz, Mexico's foremost contemporary essayist and poet, claim that Posada's ideology has actually been misunderstood. According to Paz, Posada's work was not the prototype of el arte de protesta but simply a recording of what he saw. Since the artist was surrounded by the poor and uneducated, his subject matter just happened to look "progressive."2Paz, however, wrongly oversimplifies Posada's artistic spirit. While it is true that political manifestoes do not exist in his oeuvre -the tracts of PierreJoseph Proudhon and scientific socialism not having reached him from Europe-he had a "socialist"weltanschauung and always expressed a strong social conscience. Even without a specific message, in image after image Posada clearly condemns injustice. And while he may not have subscribed to a particularphilosophical or governmental remedy for the ills of his epoch, his lampoons nevertheless are testimony to the inequities and instabilities of his fragile country. At times, his stand regarding certain public figures is ambiguous. He could support the president and condemn his enemies, only to ridicule the ruler later. And, as mentioned, politics or political figures were by no means the focus of his lampooning. Folklore and "magical" happenings, subjects popular with everyone, provided ample grist for his cartoons. Regardless of his choice of subject, though, Posada was unmistakablyallied with the dispossessed. The subversive element in Posada'swork is humor-an ingredient that makes his images as compelling today as they were in his time. Through humor, Posada denounced delinquency, assassinations, and corruption. Through humor, he sympathetically described the struggles of popular heroes. According to Paz, Posada's comic equivalent is the French playwrightAlfred Jarry,himself a creator of popular prints who drew inspiration for the absurd world of his King Ubu from Posada's imagery. Although both are rooted in the nineteenth century, they are also our contemporaries, Paz claims, and will be contemporaries of our children through the timeless appeal of their humor. Even in his earliest works, Posada is a satirist (fig. 1). While maintaining loyalty to his visual perceptions, he never forgets to inject a comic element. There is a hint of the Rabelaisian-or better, Quevedesque-touch that he would later perfect. Usually his early images synthesized an accompanying text or interpreted it with stereotypes and symbols. At this point in his career, he had not yet developed the distinct style of his later works. Perceiving his craft as a means of graphically,but not always seriously, explaining the daily news, he printed portraits of diplomats, demons, virgins, lawyers, and bankers, and depicted comets, naturaldisasters, and national events. While Benito Jua.rez,a pure-blooded Indian lawyer, was Mexico's president, El Jicote, with its constant criticism of politicians and the establishment, angered
56 DAPA Summer 1990

Posada Fig.1. Jose Guadalupe


(Mexican, 1852-1913),an early caricature,publishedin El Jicote. Posada's early works are reminiscentof Francisco de Ouevedo'sapocalyptic Dreamsin their depictionof humanabuses, foolishness, and corruption.

the local authorities and was forced to close. Nineteen-year-old Posada was considered a political agitator. He and Pedroza realized that they had to leave Aguascalientes as soon as possible, so together they went to the city of Leon de los Aldamas in the state of Guanajuato,where they opened a commercial lithographic business in 1872. It was a prosperous and very religious city, and Posada made a living mainly from producing Christianstamps, as well as cards, invitations, stickers, and labels for cigar packages and liquor bottles (fig. 2). For the time being, politics were left behind.3 In 1873 Pedroza returned to Aguascalientes, and Posada was left in charge of the shop. Even if he knew that he was not a good businessman, Posada enAll in all, joyed being his own boss. In 1875he married Mariade Jesus Varela.4 the future looked bright. A terrible flood, however, devastated Leon in 1887, and Posada lost everything. In 1888 he moved with his family to Mexico City, where he opened a workshop downtown, on Calle de Santa Teresaand subsequently on Calle Santa Ines (later Emiliano Zapata). While the history of muralism in Mexico has been well researched, lithography has been relativelyneglected. Earlyon, the technique was used primarilyto illustrate scientific treatises; but largely due to the influence of the French artist Honore Daumier, it quickly became a popular artistic medium. Mexico's first lithographic workshop was established in 1826by Claudio Linatiand used to produce the newspaper El Iris.5 Posada was familiarwith the prints of early Mexican lithographers such as J. M. Villasana,Hipolito Salazar,and Santiago Hernandez. Close scrutiny of his images, though, reveals that he also was acquainted with the work of a handful of European avant-gardeartists, specifically EdgarDegas, Edouard Manet, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
Fig.2. A sticker byJose G Posada fora cigar uadalupe
.-: _

inLe6n, company Guanajuato.

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Fig. 3. Jose Guadalupe Posada's depictionof Arroyo's shop, with a self-portrait.The owned by ad reads: "Printshop A. Vanegas Arroyo(foundedin the nineteenthcentury,year 1880).Inthis old house people can find an assorted and selected display of songs for the currentyear; a collection of greeting booklets on cooking, and pastrymakcandymaking ing;toasts; rhymesfor clowns; patrioticspeeches; plays for childrenand puppets;charming stories; 'The New Oracle' (or The Book of the Future); rules for telling fortunes with cards; 'The New Mexican FortuneTeller'; 'Blackand White Magic' (orThe Book of Sorcerers)."

Enesta.nigu.easte-hall

ie Canciones e p esr,teafonc. para !/ ,urKi4o aeFtIicliaciones, dePreshaiit. vl SCoiecnon . p dertes ra Payaso,Biscuvrso Pafritoieco Coq.me:iap?ra c c [uento, Bonitop TI^, ' nijnQ titapes

un va'zaoa y islctl

arEctraao, [acionr, Kidalvnizas. CuaJerno, Juegos a de Cocin&Dulcero, satelerJ, Brinap.Ver.oxpa-

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L A-MAG1A PR1ETA-Y
AO

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AiLibro de los Br'Waj. O%.#ea


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58

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Posada, Fig. 4. Jose Guadalupe LaCalaverarevuelta de federales, comerciantes, y arte7 .

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f

'11Z 7

VID, I.-

sanos, 1913,zinc etching.

Posada, Fig. 5. Jose Guadalupe Calaverasde monton.Numero 1, 1910,zinc etching. Library of Congress, Printsand PhotographsDivision,Swann Collection.The image has been used to representseveral differentsubjects, one being the soldiers fromthe state of Oaxaca.

In Mexico City, Posada made contact with the artist and engraver Manuel Manilla,who introduced him to Antonio VanegasArroyo, an editor and publisher of street gazettes and a true pioneer of modern journalism (fig.3). Arroyo recognized not only Posada's artistic talent but also his prodigious drive; he offered to hire him, with a promise of complete artistic freedom. Posada sold his own shop and began a prolific career with Arroyo, producing hundreds of thousands of cartoons, love letters, school books, card games, penny dreadfuls, and commercial advertisements like posters for circus performances or bull fights. On occasion, Posada would illustrate satiricalverses or simple news reports written by Arroyo or Constancio Suarez, a poet from the state of Oaxaca.The trio of editor, illustrator,and poet became a very famous and extremely productive and powerful voice until 1895,when Suarez died. Posada and Arroyo continued their partnership, and with the benefit of Arroyo's entrepreneurial spirit, Posada reached millions with his images, becoming a spokesman for Mexico's collective soul. It is commonly thought that Posada, during his association with Arroyo, created the calavera-a humorous, vivid drawing of dressed-up skulls or skeletons engaged in activities such as dancing, cycling, guitar playing, drinking, or masquerading (figs.4-8). In fact, it was Manuel Manillawho first drew these
DAPA Summer 1990 59

Posada, Fig. 6. Jos6 Guadalupe Calaveracatrina.Thisfamous calavera of a society belle was depicted by Diego Riverain his muralDreamof a Sunday Afternoonin AlamedaPark.

T:a

LA
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EDiTOR 1XOPULAR v : DEL

CALAYEBRA
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ANTONIO
Esta si es la catlavera de] dctoua p p. lare ttmas fachb qstitlamer.tt5 conao otra ni.ca han dehall,r. y
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ARROYO
Y millares de folleto_ enteran. y bi!iotecas i esqueiletos que liev6D , itodas lai calavera,. que es, de hOy eri adelButmd55 vUlanlte i la C iiivitaci6nl litl! o sera.. ementeri que c , ue-uelquier \\ Efmortal hara. r Alia S1 I b ot to gu ctfsa~rdbe~ cuentos mwravillos,o

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Posada, Fig. 7. Jose Guadalupe La Calaveradel editor popular Antonio VanegasArroyo,ca. 1907,zinc etching. Library of Congress, Printsand
la

l fuelauinos publdcaba

nuestra vida endulz.tahjai5! (le poestia, /. n'l' prinoees v Iflenaba de alep-r,a Tonultprecioas encontrareit historiaiir -ri que a) w_as tt%ste hac-aT tfz ,, ? dejaba en lias emnorias ti retierdo sing'uiar; { Los alegres sinmedida, !eyven. sus oraci.es mantiag tan cortt la vida .si que prend{an su, corazownes.E, L.-* rnuc Phao t.t queglocadat el novio ni -cuo dormir por

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adairabies. f -itorias estravagantesi, 9ra tiones fervoro-sas; ucemos espeluznantes y c0i edius uiuy hernmosa. Al d tVte8a Don.Toncho en el mndo izo

ia

yno Ih gaben deeiL Que le quiecen,qule le ad,ora.: no m sabeu expresar lsm desdichaada, 1i0ora'n elSitor Popular, parsa poder escoger IUs f u _denltu mrds amorosiia. mi! cartas l os tratoa arregiadog ad ' v abogadof, prometen que t-eg su DonAntonio !1e serioan leveo proentovaboalicufuerotab lee Altonio sueaia que Do ...
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-

PhotographsDivision,Swann Collection.

que

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Y sigue siempre vendiendo sus edic;ones modernas _ Xvtodos siguen levendo Ieas lecttr eternas z8 di-recci~.n te dhar, vai-a- al pante~'m _:IWa--d-o vn It -i despacho te tI tttttn c nvia;,i, .

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fanciful characters, publishing calaveras in newspapers and street gazettes as early as 1883.6Posada, however, was the one who popularized them, and thus he is often mistakenly credited with their invention. In a European context, calaveras derive from the medieval imagery of the danse macabre, or Dance of Death. Peter Wollen dates the tradition to fresco paintings of the fifteenth century and then to a series of woodcuts by Hans Holbein in 1538.7Posada so personalized the imagery, though, his calaveras have become metaphors for his homeland: they are to Mexico what Uncle Sam is to the United States. Originally,Posada simply intended to commemorate Mexico's "Dayof the Dead" on 2 November, when the poor and illiterate
Fig.8. Jos6 Guadalupe
Posada, LaCalaveramaderista,

.,. .

-=

is zincetching. 1911, Depicted


FranciscoMadero.

_._

DAPASummer 1990

61

picnic and sleep in cemeteries to be close to their beloved dead (fig.9). But the calaveras were immensely popular. They captivated audiences by poking fun at the adventures of Cervantes'sDon Quixote or Jose Zorrilla'splay Don Juan Tenorio (fig. 10).8Now, sculptural sugar calaveras are consumed every year to celebrate the holiday. Latergenerations of artists were also influenced by the macabre characters, including Orozco, who, like Posada, started his career as a cartoonist, and Rivera.Rivera'smuralDream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park (Hotel del Prado, Mexico City) depicts a female calavera catrina (society belle), wearing a scarf and hat. To the skeleton's left, arm-in-armwith her, stands Posada; to her right is FridaKahlo, Rivera's mistress, and a childish self-portraitof the muralist himself. Manyof Posada's calaveras bear no signature, and over the years the works of countless imitators and forgers have been falsely attributed to him. Even images by Manilla,like Calavera huertista or Calavera zapatista (figs. 11 and 12), both possibly the creation of Manilla,have sometimes been mistakenly ascribed to Posada. Posada became a master of the chiaroscuro (figs. 13 and 14). Overcoming the limitations of engraving and lithography, he injected his images with force and passion. Antonio Rodriguez explains Posada's primaryprintmaking techniques in his book Posada: TheMan WhoPortrayed an Epoch: Before settling in Mexico [City] Posada had used the technique of the lithograph. When he went to work for Arroyo..., he needed to find a more suitable method for clear, spectacular illustrations that were sharp in line and could be rapidly reproduced. With this in mind he adapted a method already in use in the workshop which consisted of engraving drawings on plates of lead or an alloy of lead and zinc, almost as in wood engraving. Among the tools he used... were various types of burin, among them the "velo,"or multiple-line tool rather like the teeth of a saw, the various points and grooves of which produced parallel tracks on the surface of the plate. Later,under the pressure to compete with newspapers that were using modern photo-engraving procedures, Posada... [replaced] the burin with a combination of varnishes and acids. With the old technique, the engraver opened grooves in the plate (of wood and metal), knowing that only what was not engraved... would be printed on the paper. With the new technique, the artist drew or painted his sketches with a pen or brush dipped in protective varnish, and when the other parts of the sheet were eaten away on dipping the sheet in acid, the sketch remained intact for printing.... [This method] is rapid and allows great freedom.9 Political cartoons and idiosyncratic comic strips are immensely popular throughout Mexico,10and Posada is considered the founding father of the genre. Everysignificant historic event of his epoch appears in his cartoons. He ridiculed the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz, a mixed-blooded general from Oaxacawho fought the French invasion in the 1860s,whereby Napoleon IIIinstalled the AustrianArchduke Maximilianof Hapsburg as emperor of Mexico. At first appearing to be a progressive liberal, in 1871 Diaz led an abortive coup against the charismatic president Benito Juarez. He organized another revolt and eventually became president, ruling Mexico tyrannically from 1876 to 1911(except for one four-yearterm). Posada also made fun of
62 DAPA Summer 1990

MV)I-E DE1 CALAiV1 j)R \S.

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LA PRIVIERA, ESTAES 1E DONQUJIJOTE

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Posada, Fig. 9. Jose Guadalupe Granmole de calaveras, zinc etching and type-metalengraving. Ubraryof Congress, Prints and PhotographsDivision, Swann Collection.This"Great Mass of Calaveras' depicts the

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livingand the dead celebrating All Souls' Day.

Fig. 10. Jose Guadalupe

Estaes de Don Posada,


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IL

Quixotela primera,la sin par la gigante calavera, type-metal engraving.Ubraryof Congress, Printsand Photographs Division,Swann Collection.

Fig. 11. LaCalaverahuertista, possibly by ManuelManilla, depicts VictorianoHuerta,a

who became brutal general in 1913,A Mexico's president .

Itis also Madero. Francisco


known as "TheHungry

Fig. 12.Zapatacalavera, possibly by ManuelManilia.

Fig.13.Jose Guadalupe
Posada's depictionof a freak with legs instead of arms.

Mexico's huge foreign debt and of the colonization of Cuba by the United States. He lampooned his country's bourgeoisie for their arrogance and used sensational canards to stir up additional excitement. When the Revolution began, Posada was fifty-eight years old and had produced fifteen thousand engravings. He was a supporter of Francisco Madero, a wealthy lawyer who militarilyopposed Diaz and became president in 1911-only to be murdered two years later by one of his men, Victoriano Huerta. He also sympathized with Emiliano Zapata,a guerrilla from the state of Morelos who fought for the peasants and agrarianreform. During these years, Posada'sengravings depict national heroes and symbols, such as women soldiers. Jean Charlot, one of the artist's dedicated admirers, wrote: "The Revolution was a Posada 'still' come to life, its tableaux charted by his able brown hand before it had even begun." Unfortunately, he did not live to see the end of the conflict.11 In 1910,around the time that his wife died, Posada created another famous character, Don Chepito Marihuano,a middle-class bachelor who counterbalanced Posada's satiric, at times cruel, voice with a moralistic one. Because of his strong influence with his audiences, Posada may have had apprehensions about providing criticisms without solutions. Departing from his customary pessimism, the artist took a positive approach, using Don Chepito to persuade the ignoramus to adopt civic manners. Don Chepito made fun of social foibles but afterwardsoffered a pedagogic message (fig. 15). His every appearance was educational, with rules regarding behavior, ethics, and honor. For more than twenty years, Posada lived in a poor neighborhood near the Tepito market, at number 6 Avenida de la Paz (later Jesus Carranza).It was there that he died, penniless, on 20 January 1913,of gastroenteritis.12 He was buried in a pauper's grave in the Dolores cemetery. Seven years later, after no one had claimed his mortal remains, his bones were exhumed and tossed in a communal grave. While not uncommon, the mass burial can be seen as a metaphor for Posada's anonymity. Posadaembodied Mexico's renaissance in his perception of the country as independent of Europe and in his desire to establish a national art with indigenous motifs and symbols dating to the Conquest. National and international events parade through his imagery: the awaited earthquake of 1899,which was considered an omen of the apocalypse; the burning of a libraryin Chicago; the famous criminal trial of MariaAntonia Rodriguez, who was accused of killing her compadre (figs. 16 and 17). His political heroes were bandits and Robin Hoods; and his political cartoons express concepts and themes later expounded in Mexican murals. Within his simple and sometimes static images, he displays
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Fig. 14. Jos6 Guadalupe Posada's depictionof a freak with four eyes.

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4'

Posada, Fig.15.Jose Guadalupe DonChepito Marihuano.

a considerable amount of inventiveness and fantasy, as in the cartoon of a woman who gives birth to three children and four animals, or the one of a girl with a face on her buttocks (figs. 18 and 19). One could argue that Posada foreshadows elements of the so-called Magic Realism style of literature-with its dramatic juxtapositions of reality and fantasy-as embodied in the writings of and Juan Rulfo.13 Gabriel GarciaMa.rquez Posada'simagery was so varied, his burin so prolific that it is difficultto know how best to approach his body of work. Roberto Bardecio and Stanley Appelbaum have established a thematic hierarchy:calaveras, disasters, national events, religion and miracles, Don Chepito Marihuano, chapbook One covers, chapbook illustrations, everyday life, and miscellaneous prints.14 could also approach his oeuvre chronologically and biographically,examining the art as it developed in the context of his life. Or, one can simply ignore any logical sequence and approach the work chaotically-which is my preference. The artist is best appreciated when external frameworks are not imposed on him. His spirit erupts in each autonomous engraving or lithograph, and the encounter between image and viewer is pure pleasure.15 Posada's life after death was yet another act of creation. He did not find an immediate following. For the next decade, the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos, a national institute founded in 1778to preserve traditions and techniques in the visual arts, ignored emerging indigenous trends in favor of imported styles and ideas. To counterattack this, the Tallerde GraficaPopular (Studio of Popular Art) was formed in 1937 under the socialist regime of LazaroCardenas. The group supported new artistic movements and tried to collectively create a revolutionary street art. At the same time, the so-called Mexican school-in particular Riveraand Orozco-frequently produced lithographs strongly influenced by Posada. Together with Emilio Amero, Jean Charlot, Miguel Covarrubias,Carlos Merida, Pablo O'Higgins, and Rufino Tamayo, the two muralists created a lithographic tradition of great impact following the teachings of Posada. Two sources might be credited with restoring Posada to prominence. In 1920, the early modernist painter Dr. Alt (Gerardo V Murillo) "rediscovered"Posada. It was Jean Charlot, however, a French immigrant to Mexico and a friend of the muralists, who showed around Posada's prints and wrote about him during
66 DAPASummer 1990

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Noviembre
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Fig. 16. Jose Guadalupe Posada, Elgranjuicio universal!This vision of the LastJudgmentillustratesthe widely held fear that on 14 November1899the world would come to an end after a terribleearthquake,volcanic eruption,and rainof stars.

45

minutos

la

asesinato! This image depicts Posada, iHorroroso Fig. 17. Jos6 Guadalupe the "horrifying murder" of her friend,who by MariaAntoniaRodriguez refused to have an affairwith her. DAPASummer 1990 67

RARO!

UNA
Y

MUJER
TRES
CU4TRO

QUE

DIO

LUZ

NINOS
0.Ji'fLES.

Fig. 18. Jos6 Guadalupe Posada, Unamujerque dio a luz tres niios y cuatro animates ("Arare case! A woman gives birthto three childrenand four animals").

the twenties in the context of Cubism. He brought the engraver to the attention of Rivera,Orozco, and Siqueiros, who were so enchanted with his artistic spirit that they embraced him as their master. Riveraonce stated that Posada "wasso closely associated with the spirit of the Mexican people that he may end up just as an abstraction"-in other words, his legacy would become a collective one, which has indeed happened. Orozco saw Posada as one of the greatest artists, one "able to teach an admirable lesson in simplicity, humility, equilibrium and dignity."16 In Posada: Messenger of Mortality, Peter Wollen analyzes Posada in Borgesian fashion: through the eyes of his successors. He examines, for example, similarities between him and the early European avant-gardistGustave Courbet-a painter of earthy, and sometimes crude, realism-and he discusses the affection some of the Cubists, such as Piet Mondrian,had for the Mexican cartoonforms of art. ist because of their re-evaluation of non-canonical and "primitive" Wollen also refers to Posada's influence on Russianlubki-posters and small books containing ballads, tales, and tracts-made by Mikhail Larionov and other Golden Fleece and Donkey's Tailartists. Larionov knew of Posada through his friend Rivera,whom he frequently visited in Paris. Other cultural links can be found, such as Posada's appeal to the Russian director Sergei MikhailovichEisenstein and to Surrealistssuch as AlfredJarry and Andre Breton, who cherished the calavera for its cruel, yet humorous, morbidity. In an enthusiastic article, Breton wrote that: the rise of humor in art to a clear, pure form seems to have taken place in a period very close to our own. Its foremost practitioner is the Mexican artist Posada who, in his wonderful popular engravings, brings home to us all the conflicts of the 1910Revolution.... They tell us something about the passage of comedy from speculation to action and remind us that Mexico, with its superb funereal playthings, is the chosen land of black humor.17 Eisenstein, according to Wollen, first saw Posada's work in Berlin in 1929, at the house of playwrightErnst Toller.The Russian filmmaker,himself an aspiring artist, shared the Mexican printmaker'sinterest in crowds, revolution, and tumultuous events, as seen in his movies such as Battleship Potemkin (1925), October (1927), and the unfinished iQue VivaMexico! In his autobiography Immortal Memories, Eisenstein explains how, when learning to draw, his drawing went through a stage of purification in his striving for a mathematically abstract and pure line, and how he was influenced at the time by Rivera, Mexican primitivism,and the "cheap prints"of Posada.18 In what may be the ultimate praise, Riveracompared Posada to Francisco de Goya. In drawing his analogy, Riverahad the artists' populism in mind. But, as I mentioned before, the links between the enlightened eighteenth-century Spaniard and the pre-modernist Mexican are even more obvious, at least at one level: both created an enduring zoology of imaginary beings. Rivera wrote of Posada: Entirelyoriginal, Posada'swork speaks with a pure Mexicanaccent.... If we accept August Renoir's dictum that the true work of art is "indefinable and inimitable,"we can safely say that Posada's engravings are works of art of the highest order. Posada can never be imitated; he can never be defined. In terms of technique, his work is pure plasticity; in terms of content, it is life itself: two things that cannot be imprisoned in the straitjacket of a definition.19
DAPASummer 1990 69

Fig. 19. Jose Guadalupe Posada's depictionof a girl with two faces. While one face speaks of sadness and the other is a disturbingmask, the young girl does not appearto experience any identity conflict. Existentialsuffering was not one of the lampoonist'sconcerns.

Fig.20. Jos6 Guadalupe Posada's depictionof a freak with a humangrowingfrom his side.

Riveraloved the Posada of the urban poor, the lumpen street people. But equally enjoyable, and most attractive to me, is the Posada who transports us to a universe of gothic, at times grotesque, magical, and bizarre incidents, or Posada the anarchist, dwelling on catastrophe, satire, and death. Death, in fact, is his primarypreoccupation, as far as I am concerned-not an existential, painful death, but one that is irrevocable, social, and egalitarian.The gothic facet of Posada has, unfortunately, gone unattended. His universe is full of bats, griffins, skeletons, animal hybrids, snakes, explosions, pistols, demons, ghosts, and deformities (figs. 20 and 21). He draws attention to fear, despair, and criminality.His monsters are not pure abstraction; they are symbols, allegorical images, metaphors. They have a life of their own yet are tied to the human reality. They deserve a place next to the sphinx, the multiple-headed dragon, and the behemoth, as well as Pieter Brueghel's vision of Hell. Posada was able to portray the sadism, torture, madness, superstition, and paranoia of his time through these incredibly complex, outstandingly imaginative characters without ever losing touch with the Mexican soul, perhaps, because they
inhabit it.

Why is this master of street art relevant today?Because he was a genius without artifice or pomposity. Because he truly spoke to the masses. Because he was attracted to the calamitous and absurd, as mankind will always be. Because rarelydoes an artist manage to bridge the gap between popular and sophisticated tastes as he did through his lampoons and cartoons. To put it simply, because Posada is Mexico. o Notes
1. Manyencyclopedias give his year of birth as 1851. The best biographical sources on Posada are Antonio Rodriguez, Posada: El artista que retrat6 una epoca (Mexico City:EditorialDomes, 1977); Luis Cardozay Arag6n,Jose Guadalupe Posada (Mexico City:Universidad Nacional in Cuademos americanos, no. 3 (1943). See Aut6noma de Mexico, 1963); and J. Larrea,"Posada" also Ilan Stavans, "Notasobre Jose Guadalupe Posada,"in Manual del (im) perfecto resenista (Mexico City:UniversidadAut6noma Metropolitana, 1989).

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2. See Octavio Paz, "JoseGuadalupe Posaday el grabado latinoamericano,"in M6xico en la obra de Octavio Paz, vol. 3: Losprivilegios de la vista (Mexico City:Fondo de CulturaEcon6mica, 1987). 3. Between 1884 and 1888, Posada taught lithography at a secondary school in Le6n. 4. Posada had a son but not by his wife. He may have been adopted or the product of an extramarital affair.The boy, who appears in at least one of the two surviving photographs of Posada, was dearly loved by his father. He died in his teens, shortly after the turn of the century. 5. Alois Senefelder, a Bavarianartist, invented the process of lithography around 1798. Within thirty years, knowledge of it had spread throughout the world. For an examination of Mexicanlithography in the nineteenth century, see Manuel Toussaint,La litografia en Mexico en el siglo XIX,2nd ed. (Biblioteca Nacional, 1934). A comprehensive history of Mexican lithographyin this century has yet to be written. Among the artists that deserve mention are: Olga Costa, CarlosMerida,Gunther Gerzo, Pablo O'Higgins,Vicente Rojo, CarlosAlvoradoLang,Roger von Gunten, MarianoPancedes, Alfredo Castafieda,LuisLopez Loza, RufinoTamayo,Alberto Jose LuisCuevas, Miguel Covarrubias, Castro Lefiero, and GabrielMacotela. For additional information on the subject see FranciscoDiaz de Le6n, Gehona y Posada: Grabadores mexicanos (Mexico City:Fondo de CulturaEcon6mica, 1968); ArminHaab,Mexican Graphic Art (New York:George Wittenborn, 1957); and Posada und die mexicanische Druckgraphik, 1930 bis 1960 (Nuremberg: Albrecht-Durer-Gesellschaft; 1971). 6. Manilladied in the 1890s. 7. See Peter Wollen's insightful introductory essay to Julian Rothenstein, ed., Posada: Messenger of Mortality (London: Redstone Press, 1989), which accompanies an exhibition of Posada'swork at the Oxford Museum of Modern Art. 8. A decisive influence on Posada was an 1844 print by Manillashowing scenes from Zorrilla'splay. See EdwardLarocqueTinker, Corridosy calaveras (Austin:Universityof TexasPress, 1961). 9. Quoted in Julian Rothenstein, ed.,Jose Guadalupe Posada: Mexican Popular Prints (London: Redstone Press, 1988), pp. 22-23. 10. Examples of political cartoons by other artists, some of them anonymous, include "LaFamilia ? ' "~:~i:t, Burr6n,""Condorito,"and the images of Naranjoand Rius. For a tribute from the latter to Posada, '-'""~"'~"~'~'~~' ,: ^, see Eduardo del Rio (Rius), Posada (Mexico City:EditorialPosada, 1989). ^ iX*)S , J^'
X?: ';,:

~"(~ 7~

11. Quoted in Rothenstein, Posada: Mexican Popular Prints, p. 24. VanegasArroyo,who died in 1917, did live to see the Revolution coming to an end. His son, Bias VanegasArroyo, later wrote a monograph about "Don Lupe,"as he used to call Posada. See Frances Toor, Pablo O'Higgins, and Blas VanegasArroyo,Monografta: Las obras deJos6 Guadalupe Posada, grabador mexicano (Mexico City:Mexican Folkways, 1930). 12.The death certificate read "enteritisaguda."

13. The Cuban novelist Alejo Carpentier, in a 1943 article about a trip to Haiti, coined the term "magicrealism"(lo real maravilloso), referring to the intertwining of realityand fantasywith no ,.~;~, ,/ ~clear separation of the two. He wanted to show the French intelligentsia that elements of their Surrealismmovement were commonplace in Caribbeanliterature and art.Juan Rulfo created vivid | portraits of desolate life in ruralMexico in The Burning Plain and Other Stories (1953) and the remarkablenovel Pedro Pdramo (1955). 14. See their book Posada's Popular Mexican Prints: TwoHundred and Seventy Three Cuts (New York:Dorer, 1972). 15. This is the approach taken in Hannes Jahn, ed., Das Werkvon Jose Guadalupe Posada (Frankfurtam-Main:Zweitausendeins, 1976). This volume reproduces more prints than any other study on Posada (approximately 1,700). In addition to a brief introduction, it comprises an index of 776 titles of drawings and a bibliography of periodicals to which Posada contributed, books or series of books that he illustrated, studies on him, and works and essays referring to him or showing his influence.

Fig. 21. Jose Guadalupe Posadas depictionof a freak

with the body of a pig, the face 16. Riveraand Orozco quotations from Rothenstein, Posada: Mexican Popular Prints, p. 15. The Artes de M6xico 4 original sources are: Diego Rivera,"JoseGuadalupe Posada:The PopularArtist," (January/February 1958); and Jose Clemente Orozco, "The Stimulus of Posada,"Massachusetts of a man, the eyes of a fish, Review 3, no. 2 (1962). RegardingJean Chariot, see Jean Charlot,Posada's Dance of Death (New York:PrattGraphicArt Center, 1964);An Artist on Art: Collected Essays of Jean Chariot and a hornon its forehead. (Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1972); and Artfrom the Mayans to Disney (New Yorkand London: Sheed and Ward,1939). 17.Andre Breton, "Bois de Jos6 Guadalupe Posada,"Minotaure no. 10 (1928). 18. Sergei MikhailovichEisenstein,Immortal Memories, trans. HerbertMarshall(Boston: Houghton MifflinCompany, 1983). 19. Diego Rivera,"JoseGuadalupe Posada:A MagisterialUtilization of Clean Bones," Massachusetts Review 3, no. 2 (1962). DAPASummer 1990 71

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