Art Knowledge News
The British Museum opens A Revolution on Paper: Mexican Prints 1910-1960 |
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| Written by Grace Arkington |
| Friday, 23 October 2009 03:23 |
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 Some of the
finest of these prints were produced by the three great men of Mexican art of
the period known as ‘los tres grandes’: Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and
David Alfaro Siqueiros. The best-known print is Rivera’s Emiliano Zapata and his
horse which has achieved iconic status in twentieth century Mexican art. Other
prints including Rivera’s portrait of Frida Kahlo, Siqueiros’ Dama Negra,
Orozco’s The Masses, demonstrate the extraordinary breadth, imagination, and
quality of the works shown. In addition to the Los Tres Grandes, many other
artist were involved and rose to prominence, especially after the founding of
the Taller del Gráfica Popular (TGP) in Mexico City in 1937. The range of
material is fascinating: as well as single-sheet artists’ prints, there are
large posters with designs in woodcut or lithography by these same artists, and
illustrated books on many different themes. The exhibition will also include
earlier works around the turn of the century by the popular printmaker, José
Guadalupe Posada, who was adopted by the revolutionaries as the archetypal
printmaker who worked for the people, and whose macabre dances of skeletons have
always fascinated Europeans. Printmakers in Mexico often belonged to groups, societies and movements which were underpinned by their commitment to politics. The earliest movement was Stridentism, an avant garde group which was launched 1921 and was similar to the Italian Futurist movement because it rejected the past. The Taller de Gráfica Popular (TGP) was formed in 1937 by Luis Arenal, Leopoldo Méndez and Pablo O’Higgins as a graphic arts workshop which was influenced by communism. TGP members had access to printing equipment at the workshop and did not need to have artistic training. The collective produced prints for posters, flyers and portfolios which were printed on cheap paper. Their prints often supported the campaigns of trade and workers unions in Mexico. For example, Pablo O’Higgins and Alberto Beltrán collectively made a poster advertising the first Latin American Petrol Workers conference. The TGP was also particularly committed to the fight against international Fascism. Angel Bracho’s striking red and black poster, Victoria! (1945), which celebrates the allied victory over the Nazi’s in 1945, is a key example of the TGP’s anti-Fascist stance. Other printmakers addressed subjects such as corruption, capitalism and Mexican daily life in their prints. In 1957, the TGP held a major exhibition at the Fine Arts Palace in Mexico City to celebrate its twentieth anniversary as a printmaking collective and its activity continues even today on a minor scale. Members of the TGP and other artists’ groups have published extensively in support of the visual arts. Other artists associated with the TGP went on to establish art schools, institutions or museums. Visit The British Museum at : www.britishmuseum.org/ Click on logo below to add this article to your favorite Social Website ~ |
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