Existing comment:
Carlos A. Cortéz
born Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1923;
died Chicago, Illinois 2005
José Guadalupe Posada
1981, signed 1983
linocut on paper mounted on paperboard
Gift of Tomás Ybarra-Frausto, 1995.50.9
During the civil rights era, Chicano artists admired the work of José Guadalupe Posada, whose cartoons and broadsides expressed political discontent before and during the Mexican Revolution. Cortéz considered Posada his artistic godfather and depicted him on several occasions. Shown frontally with his gaze toward the viewer, Posada holds a zinc plate. Looking over his shoulder is the skeleton diva "La Catrina," a fancy-hatted figure Posada popularized in his penny broadsides. With Posada and Catrina's close association with the annual Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) observance, Cortéz may also be offering a humorous yet stark reminder of humanity's transience. |