José Guadalupe Posada was a Mexican illustrator who worked in lithography and engraving, he was a very prolific image maker who completed an estimated 20,000 illustrations in his lifetime, with themes ranging from Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead illustrations, political cartoons, popular illustrations, and daily life, as well as illustrations for “shocking” crime stories. He was also known to have created illustrations for a number of children’s books in the form of cheaply printed chapbooks with the printer Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, making them accessible to wide audiences. Yet despite his enduring legacy, his contributions are not often discussed in histories of graphic design, yet his story reveals a deep history of image making and mass production of images in Mexico, which includes the foundation of the Taller de Gráfica Popular, a collective founded by Leopoldo Méndez, Luis Arenal, and Pablo O’Higgins. Posada’s popular Day of the Dead icons, such as the Calavera Catrina, have captured the hearts and imaginations of many. Born in 1852 in Aguascalientes, Mexico, he made his way to Mexico City after a devastating flood upended his life. It is perhaps this move that allowed his work to be “discovered” by artists and historians after his untimely death in 1913. Though his work has been recognized by art historians, and he has been honored with a number of posthumous exhibitions of his work around the world, there is still work to be done to include his story in histories of graphic design. His images were geared to popular audiences, and a wide range of people had access to them and enjoyed them in his lifetime.

TIMELINE

1852 - Born, February 2, Aguascalientes, Mexico
1860s - receives drawing instruction Municipal Academy of Drawing in Aguascalientes
1867 - Census records Posada as a Painter
1868 - Begins working with Trinidad Pedroza
1871 - First political Cartoon published in El Jicote
1872 - Pedroza and Posada move to León
1876 - Takes charge of Pedroza print shop
1888 - Moves to Mexico City
1888-90 - collaborates with the newspaper La Patria Ilustrada and the Revisita de Mexico
1910 - The Mexican Revolution begins
1913 - Died, January 20, Mexico City, Mexico
1920 - The Mexican Revolution ends
1937 - Taller de Gráfica Popular, collective founded by Leopoldo Méndez, Luis Arenal, and Pablo O’Higgins

REFERENCES

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Aguilar Montes de Oca, R. I. (2016). The Day of the Dead: One Ritual, NewFolk Costumes, and Old Identities. Folklore (Tartu, Estonia), 66, 95.

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Bunker, S. B. (2012). Creating Mexican consumer culture in the age of Porfirio Díaz. University of New Mexico Press.

Casillas, M. L. (2013). Posada & Manilla: Illustrations for Mexican Fairy Tales. RM.

Doyle, S., Grove, J., & Whitney, S. (Eds.). (2019). History of Illustration. Fairchild Books.

Frank, P. (1998). Posada’s Broadsides: Mexican popular imagery, 1890-1910. University of New Mexico Press.

Greenspan, J. (2018, August 31). 6 things you may not know about the Mexican Revolution. HISTORY. https://www.history.com/news/6-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-mexican-revolution

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Taller de Gráfica Popular (Mexico City, Mexico) | The Art Institute of Chicago. (2001, July 4). The Art Institute of Chicago. https://www.artic.edu/artists/72887/taller-de-grafica-popular-mexico-city-mexico

Tyler, R. (1979). Posada’s Mexico. Library of Congress.