Revolution on Paper: Mexican Prints 1910-1960 »

DAWN ADÈS is Professor of Art History and Theory at the University of Essex. She pioneered the study of Latin American art in the United Kingdom and has also published widely on Dada, Surrealism, and photography.

ALISON MCCLEAN is a specialist in Mexican printmaking, in particular the Taller de Gráfica Popular. She has taught art history at the universities of Essex, Middlesex, and Bristol, and is a Fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and a former Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

The Mexican revolution of 1910-1920 gave rise to an artistic explosion that was felt most profoundly in printmaking. The left-wing government viewed art as an important vehicle for education and the promotion of revolutionary values. It established a program to cover the walls of public buildings with murals and set up numerous workshops to produce prints for wide distribution. By the 1930s, Mexico was attracting socially committed artists from all over the American continent and beyond, ready to do battle for a new aesthetic as well as a new political order. Diego Rivera, a key figure in the art of revolution, became one of the most celebrated artists in the world.

Starting with works by José Guadalupe Posada, who was adopted by the revolutionaries as the archetypal printmaker for the people, Revolution on Paper features prints by thirty-five artists, including the "Three Greats" of Mexican art of the period--Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. The selection includes not only single-sheet artists' prints, but also posters addressing social and political issues, and illustrated books on many different subjects. Images of the revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata, scenes of poverty, hunger, and oppression, and posters protesting against fascism and the war in Europe contrast with representations of Mexican history and idealized rural life that express what was regarded as typically "Mexican." Introductory essays by Dawn Adès and Alison McClean set Mexican printmaking in its artistic and political context. Concise biographies of the artists, a chronology, and a glossary of printmaking terms complete the book.