The Mexican Printmakers - Part II

Alfredo Zalce, "La revolucion y la libertad de prensa" (Revolution and freedom of the press), 1945.

This was such an impressive print. I was often struck by the complicated nature of the compositions, always in service to the subject, and how the artists played with variations in scale, distance, density, positive and negative space in order to achieve the most impact.

In this detail you can see how vigorous and free the carving is. Even in a minutely-planned image, that vigor gives an energy and immediacy that are palpable. Look at how different each face is, and how the artist has treated the texture of the clothing, hair, hats -- so much variation, so little repetition. Only a master could achieve this, because those aspects, I'm sure, happened directly during the carving, not in the drawing.

 

Ignacio Aguirre, "Las tropas constitutionalistas hacen el primer reparto des tierras" (Constitutionalist troops make the first land distribution),1946.

Another great use of perspective and scale.

Ignacio Aguirre Camacho, "Venustiano Carranza arenga los jefes constitutionalistas" (Venustiano Carranza harangues the constitutionalist chiefs), 1947.

I love the large dark figure of Venusiano contrasted with the multiple figures and flags on the top and right . And the many types of marks used to make the ground interesting, then the composition tied together with the white banner. Such a great use of positive and negative.

Leopoldo Mendez, "Deportacion a la muerte" (Deportation to death), 1942

And finally, another enormously effective print that uses perspective, scale, and light to create maximum impact, drawing attention to the faces of the huddled deportees, but insisting that we also look up the line to the malevolent cloud of black smoke in the distance.

Seeing these images up close felt like taking a master class in printmaking - it was a privilege, and I learned a lot.

Comments

[samkerson]

Leopoldo Mendez lived til 1969...if they are not our contemporaries they are our immediate antecedents, verdad..Mexico city is simply the oldest and culturally richest city on the continent.

[Beth]

Thanks, Sam - I didn't know Mendez lived until 1969. And I completely agree about Mexico City - I wish more North Americans would visit and discover this truth for themselves. A part of my heart remains there all year, I really care about the city and its people, and I feel it's given me a great deal.

[Beth]

I received an email from a friend, L., that said, "You noted the vigor and freedom of the marks, but I wonder if like me your readers are interested why (as a carver?) clearly they were unplanned. I realize a blog is not a restaurant where people place orders for topics, and trust you'll ignore the idea--and this note--if you please." OK, I'm happy to try to answer. In the print in question, if we look at the whole image (top of this post) we can see the marching figures on the right, representing the people of the revolution, depicted with a lot of solidity and verticality, and swirling around them, the rest of the image, representing the newspapers, the press. That compositional idea was almost certainly worked out in the original drawing. But when we transfer a drawing to linoleum, we're limited by how much detail we can include, first of all because it's difficult to transfer (via carbon paper or rubbing graphite on the back of a drawing)-- you try to get the main elements onto the lino. Then the artist may go over the lines with ink, adding some detail - for instance, Zalce would have drawn the figures and the basic features of their faces, but I very much doubt he would have added lines indicating the direction of the marks he was planning to carve. If you look in the detail (second image down), see how he has carved the shapes of the hats in the back two rows. These marks are very free, and each hat is individual. So are the faces. So are the suits of clothes.

The marks you carve usually describe the contour of the form, though not always. It's one of the things I am noticing about my own learning curve -- gradually, with experience and practice, you develop a greater innate sense of what to do and how to do it "on the fly.' This is a great example of how a master carver does it - with his tools, he has clearly suggested the flat front of the overalls, the thick lapels of the suits, a tucked white shirt, a straw hat. And then in the background, the carving is even more free, creating a sense of movement around the marching figures. He would have planned to do it this way, but I very much doubt he would have drawn it in detail first.

I hope that helps a little!