La Jornada: The National Print Museum explores the facets of Posada beyond its calacas

The works of the engraver José Guadalupe Posada (Aguascalientes, 1852-Mexico City, 1913), his inspirations and creative experiments are the center of the exhibition Posada: Cartography of a chronicler.

The exhibition, installed in the National Museum of Prints (Munae), revisits some of his first works, as well as his games with colors, religious and supernatural influences, and even his interest in the crimes of his time.

The exhibition, curated by Mercurio López Casillas, David García and Caroline Montenat, includes work from three collections: that of the Posada Museum, in Coyoacán; the José Guadalupe Posada museum. of Aguascalientes, and that of Munae. Also added were 30 creations by contemporary artists who took reference from the hydrowarm and seven haptic pieces were added for the visually impaired, which replicate some of the plates he created.

“This review is special because, although there are many exhibitions of his works, we still do not know details of his life. He seems like an anonymous hero who over time the only thing he left us are his prints, and due to various circumstances what has transcended the most are his skulls. There is still a body of work about which almost nothing is said. We believe that he made around 20 thousand engravings,” said David García.

Among the 300 pieces that make up the exhibition are some of his first drawings, wooden, zinc and lead plaques that he created and with which he shaped his lithographs, as well as illustrations for stories, narrative series and his contribution to the creation of the typography of some workshops, not to mention his foray into topics related to music.

Among the oldest pieces are works related to 19th century art, in which he created detailed portraits of people and bulls that would later lead to their great technical quality when capturing large groups of individuals.

“One of his great attributes was his way of representing the people. Posada has a great way of personalizing each subject he captures, it is as if those people were recorded in his memory for some characteristic,” explained the director of the Posada Museum of Coyoacán, Bjorn López.

Among the experiments that Posada did are playing with color as a stencil; He put sheets, mainly red, or made two plates that complemented each other and for which he used two inks. As an example, there are some illustrations in which the result of said process is observed.

Another facet is his attraction towards the immaterial and religious: he represents angels, divine effigies and saints, but also the dark, such as demons, spirits, exorcisms and ghosts to which he gives satirical forms using his characteristic humor. From here would come the influence for his famous calacas.

One of the rooms is dedicated to how he expressed the human. A special plaque is kept in one of the display cases: a group of distinguished people enters a ballroom, they are welcomed with music and much pomp. Their clothing is striking, as they are elegant suits and beautiful dresses worn by men with mustaches. It is a representation of the famous “Baile de los 41”, a party held during the Porfiriato, in which a group of transvestites from high society met and which ended with a police raid.

The issue of crime is another aspect that caught his attention. In engravings you can see scenes of hangings, the suicide of a woman who jumps from the Cathedral and one of the crimes of The Vestthe first serial killer recorded in the history of Mexico. Headphones were placed in front of these pieces to listen to the corridos on which Posada was based; the music was provided by the National Sound Library of Mexico.

Dialogue with current events

In dialogue with current events are his proposals towards contemporary graphic design by playing with various forms of vignettes and typography.

Present during the opening ceremony were the federal Secretary of Culture, Claudia Curiel de Icaza, and the directors of the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature, Alejandra de la Paz, and of Munae, Laura Valencia.

In his speech, Curiel de Icaza thanked the work carried out by the previous person in charge of the venue, Emilio Payán, of whom he said: “all the work he did during the time we collaborated together left behind many of the projects to which we are continuing. He also told me about the urgency of maintaining the facilities that now benefit the new museographies, such as those of this exhibition.”

For her part, Laura Valencia commented: “We are very happy because we are turning 40 and we have long tablecloths. With this exhibition of this emblematic engraver, which is part of the identity of this country, we want to transcend the Posada de las Calacas to learn about its other facets and its different works that are not so seen. This is only part of the collection of more than 13 thousand works that we have in this venue.”

The exhibition Posada: Cartography of a chronicler It will be open to the public until September 20 at the Munae, located at 39 Hidalgo Avenue, Centro neighborhood, Cuauhtémoc mayor’s office. Free entry.