José Guadalupe Posada

José Guadalupe Posada (1851–1913) was a Mexican printmaker who used calavera illustrations to make political satires and cultural critiques. He was particularly influential in the role of printmaking as a medium of social and political engagement. His popular satire was printed in inexpensive newspapers and periodicals, and was accessible to the lower classes. His prolific illustrations would later earn him the title of “printmaker to the Mexican people.”

Using his calavera to emphasize mortality, Posada was able to illustrate the beliefs and daily lifestyles of popular groups, as well as satirize many affecting issues of the time, such as the abuses of government and the exploitation of the common people. Later in life, his tireless printmaking played a crucial role in government elections.

It is estimated that Posada produced more than 20,000 images in his career, but Posada himself remained unknown. He died penniless and was buried in an unmarked grave. In 1920, 7 years after his death, his work began to be recognised on a national and international level – after being championed by the French ex-patriot artist Jean Charlot and trumpeted by Diego Rivera. Charlot described Posada as “printmaker to the Mexican people,” and mural artists such as Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, profoundly influenced by the anti-bourgeois illustrations, promoted and repopularized Posada’s ideas. 100 years later, Posada’s use of the press to give social and political voice to the people continues to be both influential and relevant.

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La Calavera Catrina

Among Posada’s most famous prints was La Calavera Catrina, now associated with Mexico’s Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead. At the time of publication, Catrina was a social/political statement against Mexican women who tried to erase their indigenous heritage by wearing French styled clothes and makeup to appear more white. Years later, Catrina’s eye sockets would be annually painted onto the faces of Mexican people celebrating Día de Muertos, with the intricate painted skull designs, and bright marigolds.

100 years after her conception, Posada’s La Calavera Catrina has transformed first from a satire against gentrification, then into a colorful celebration of Mexican culture, and is now mass produced to offer an infusion of cultural texture to white ladies like me.