For the People: Modern Printmaking in Mexico at the SDMA

Printmaking has played a central role in the development of the visual arts in modern Mexico, from early devotional engravings of the 1600s to the satirical lithographs of José Guadalupe Posada around 1900. The Muralist movement was inspired by Posada’s “calaveras” (animated skeletons), the Virgin of Guadalupe, and other Christian and nationalist images made popular in prints. Closely intertwined with the advancement of democracy, human rights, and Indigenous cultural identity, printmaking became the primary medium of political engagement in Mexico. Throughout the Mexican Revolution (1910–20), the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), and World War II (1939–45), printmaking was at the forefront of art and politics in Mexico.