José Guadalupe Posada - Printmaker

[EN ESPAÑOL]

JOSE GUADALUPE POSADA (1851-1913)

 José Guadalupe Posada was born in the state of Aguascalientes, Mexico. In his early life he worked as a teacher of lithography and in 1887, he moved to Mexico City where he became a newspaper illustrator.

 His graphic work is well recognized and he often dealt with political, social and moral themes. Posada's "calaveras" (skeletons) represented here are images often associated with the the Day of the Dead, but their original intent was more satirical. "La Catrina or the Female Dandy was originally intended to poke fun at the upper class, during the autocratic rule of Porfirio Diaz.

 Calaveras

The Calaveras linked below were scanned from the book Posada Printmaker to the Mexican People ©1944 by the Art Institure of Chicago.   The book is also a catalog to an exhibit of Posada's work presented at the institute.  The numbers in the links below refer to the catalog number of Posada's engravings which appear in that work.

#288 Calavera of the Newspapers [Calavera de los Periódicos] #299 Calavera of the Zapatistas [Calavera Zapatista] #302 Calavera of Huerta [Calavera Huertista] #303 Calavera of the Artists and Artisans [Calavera de Artistas y Artesanos] #307 Calavera of la Adelita [Calavera de la Adelita] #308 Calavera of the  Dandy [Calavera del Catrín] #313 Calavera of Don Juan Tenorio [Calavera de Don Juan Tenorio] #314 Calavera of the Purring Cat [Calavera del Gato Morrón] #322 Calavera of the War of the Intervention [Calavera de la Intervención] #323 Calavera of the Female Dandy [Calavera de la Catrina] #324 Calavera of Don Quixote [Calavera de Don Quijote]

Links to Other Posada Sites

• Posada Museum in Aguascalientes
• Jose Guadalupe Posada and Corridos of the Mexican Revolution
  (excerpts from a thesis in progress)
• La Calaca
• Skeletons Out of the Closet
  (an article from The Austin Chronicle Hypertext Edition Notable for some excellent scans of calaveras from the University of Hawaii.)
• Jose Guadalupe Posada - The Man - His Art - His Times
• Gallery for Eloquent Skeletons article by Trudy Balch
• Many more Posada sites available through the links page

[IN ENGLISH]

José Guadalupe Posada (1851-1913) nació en el estado de Aguascalientes, México. Durante su vida, trabajó como maestro de litografía y en 1889, se fue a vivir a la Ciudad de México, donde trabajó como ilustrador de periódicos.

Sus grabados son bien conocidos y por lo usual tienen temas políticos, sociales y morales. Las calaveras de Posada son muchas veces asociadas con el Día de los Muertos, pero originalmente tuvieron un sentido más satírico. "La Catrina," por ejemplo, fue una burla a la clase alta  durante el tiempo del dictator, Porfirio Díaz.

Para obtener más información sobre este artista interesante,  los siguientes libros localizados en la biblioteca del Colegio de Palomar, pueden ser de utilidad:

    NE546. P6 A47 1992
    José Guadalupe Posada, ilustrador de la vida mexicana

    NE546. P6 F73 1998
    Posada's broadsheets:  Mexican popular imagery 1890-1910

    NE546. P6 B47 1972
    Posada's popular Mexican prints: 273 cuts

    NE546. P6 A32
    Posada, printmaker to the Mexican people

Para más información sobre Posada, utilize los enlaces arriba mencionadas (disponibles en inglés).

  Last modified 09/20/05   ©1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005 Alexis Ciurczak & José Rangel