José Posada - Posada’s Popular Mexican Prints

This section offers additional explanations of many of the figures and indicates the sources of the identifications of the subjects. The short forms Ilustrador, Monografia and Printmaker are used here to designated items 9, 13 and 7, respectively, in the Bibliography on page 155. Unless otherwise stated, the identifications are from Ilustrador.

Ilustrador reproduces the entire broadside, which is headed by the verses De este famoso hipdromo en la pista,/ no faltar ni un solo periodista/ La muerte inexorable no respeta/ ni a los que veis aqui en bicicleta (In this famous race on the track not a single journalist will be missing; inexorable death respects not even those you see here on bicycles). The broadside also shows that the metal block as it now exists (as reproduced in the plate section) has been cut down at the left side, where there was originally another skeleton cyclist in monks garb with a cowl, as well as another skeleton being run over. The wheels of the small bicycle at the lower right were originally square; another hand later made the correction. Furthermore, in the complete broadside each skeleton is labeled with the name of the newspaper he represents: the monk is Voz de Mxico (Voice of Mexico; a paper supporting the Church); the other skeleton no longer visible at the left is Raza Latina (Latin Race); the skeletons still visible in the top row are, from left to right, Patria (Homeland), Universal (with starry cap), Tiempo (Time; with hourglass headpiece and flowing beard), Partido Liberal (Liberal Party; with Phrygian cap, symbol of liberty), Gil Blas (with plumed Spanish cap) and Siglo XIX (Nineteenth Century; with top hat); those still visible in the bottom row are, from left to right, Siglo XX (Twentieth Century; this label is still legible), Quijote (on the ground with plumed helmet), Fandango (with sombrero) and Casera (Housekeeper; with skirt). This firm identification does away with the many fanciful interpretations the plate has inspired (and which have still been forthcoming even since the publication of Ilustrador ). The importance of headgear in Posadas art is particularly striking here. The bicycle theme, which recurs in no. 239, was popular during the 1890s in Punch and in American humorous publications. This large broadside also contained 23 smaller cuts and many verses.

This plate has often been called El jarabe en ultratumba (The jarabe beyond the grave), jarabe being a major folk dance of Mexico (the jarabe tapato, known in the United States as the Mexican Hat Dance, is one of the varieties of the jarabe ).

. The entire broadside, reproduced in Ilustrador, shows that the block has been cut down slightly at both sides. The heading of the broadside reads: Esta es la de don Quijote, la primera/ la sin par, la gigante calavera (This is the calavera of Don Quijote, the first-class one, the matchless one, the gigantic one). The remaining verses say that the Don will spare no one, not even the most learned. Here the Don is shown wearing his barber basin helmet. This engraving is sometimes erroneously called the calavera of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza.

Not in Ilustrador. Called Calavera: El morrongo in Monografa. Called Calavera del gato morrn in Printmaker. The term gato morrongo was also applied to butchers helpers.

The hat depicted is of a type used in the state of Oaxaca.

Identification from Monografa. Again note the varied headgear appropriate to various social classes and callings.

Not only a monumental artistic achievement, but also a highly interesting historical document. When this broadside was issued (presumably on the occasion of All Souls Day, 1910the year is printed on the sheet), Madero had recently been imprisoned (this is alluded to in the verses) and the outbreak of the Revolution was only weeks away. The entire broadside is reproduced in Ilustrador. Its actual heading is Calaveras del montn; the title Calavera de Madero is merely for convenient reference. The lengthy verses are really about many types of tradesmen who will all end up as bones in a common pilethe allusions to Madero are clumsily interpolated. Yet the illustration clearly represents the liberal presidential candidate: the style of mustache and beard is his, and the words on the label of the bottle he carries should probably be completed as Aguardiente de Parras, brandy from Parrasthe latter being Maderos native city (in the northern state of Coahuila) and the site of the vineyards that constituted his familys wealth. His calavera is shown dressed in typical lower-class clothes, including sombrero, sarape and huaraches (because Posada thought of Madero as a friend of the people?). The political cartoonists had long used similarly dressed men to represent el Pueblo the Mexican equivalent of John Q. Public.

The verses on the broadside (reproduced entire in Ilustrador ) tell us that the male skeleton is asking for love beyond the tomb, while his inamorata is disdainful.

15-17. These were well-to-do fashionable people for whom love meant a lot.

Though a cleric, this skeleton was a glutton and a skirt-chaser.

Identification from a personal communication.

Rivera incorporated this calavera (converting it into a full-length figure arm in arm with Posada himself) in his 1947 Hotel del Prado mural (see in Introduction). He had already portrayed Posada in his murals for the monumental stairway of the National Palace (1929-31).

Identification from Monografa.

23-26. Entire broadside reproduced in Ilustrador. No. 23 shows a well-dressed couple. In No. 24, the male skeleton, dressed in the traditional costume of a charro (horseman), is acting jealous. No. 25 wears a generals uniform.

The full title of the broadside is: Aqu la calavera est, seores,/ de todititos los buenos valedores (Here, gentlemen, is the calavera of all the good pals). In the picture reproduced here, a drunken quarrel has started.

Identification from Ilustrador and a personal communication.

29 & 30. The main title of the two-sided broadside (reproduced entire in Ilustrador ) is: Una calavera chusca Dedicada las placeras, Tortilleras, verduleras y toda gente de lucha (A merry calavera dedicated to market women, tortilla vendors, vegetable vendors and all contentious people). No. 29, from the recto side of the sheet, represents Agapita, the cheese vendor; No. 30, from the verso, depicts Doa Paz, the tamales seller.

Monografa calls this Alegres con Doa Juanita. Doa Juanita is one of the terms used for marihuana.

Criminals convicted of minor offenses were used as streetcleaners: hence the police guard, and the variety of clothing the skeletons wear.

33 ff. According to Monografa, these fenmenos (freaks of nature) were illustrations of ejemplos (see Introduction, p.xviii).

The head resembles those of folk toys made in Toluca.

Part of a twin that failed to develop normally? A pregnant man as imagined by Posada?

Identification from Monografa.

The entire recto of the broadside is reproduced in Ilustrador and in Fig. F in the Introduction to the present volume. The main title is La gran destruccin y terrible incendio de la plaza de toros de Puebla (The great destruction and terrible fire in the Puebla bullring). The full picture, as preserved in the broadside, shows the great panic in the stands.

The entire recto of the broadside is reproduced in Ilustrador. The full title is: Triste y lamentable acontecimiento, Que pas en las Minas Las Esperanzas en el Tiro 3 La Conquista el 25 de junio de 1903 (Sad and deplorable event which took place in the Hope Mines in Shaft No. 3, The Conquest, on June 25, 1903).