My Mexico by Jose Guadalupe Posada
is on display in the ground floor gallery from December 17 through February 13, 2005.

Mexican engraver Jose Guadalupe Posada’s satirical black-and-white prints from early 20th century newspapers and broadsides focus on the human condition. Using the full range of human emotions and actions, Posada created powerful narratives which addressed the social, religious, and political issues facing Mexico.

At a time of dramatic industrial transformation in Mexico City, Posada was primarily concerned with representing the impact of this cultural revolution on members of the working class. Many of the works exhibited in My Mexico represent the artist’s personal reaction to the shifting world around him.

Posada began his career at a young age, producing images for a satirical penny-press newspaper, El Jicot. He went on to join the publishing house of Don Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, with whom he worked until his death. Art historian Nicholas Rangel describes Posada as “the unique engraver of his kind, for no other possessed as he did such perception in caricaturing the lower classes of Mexico City.”

Unfortunately, Posada’s work did not receive much acclaim during his lifetime. It was only after his death in 1913 that Mexicans came to regard Posada as one of their greatest artists. His work is now celebrated throughout the Americas and Europe.