Calavera del Telele,

ca. 1890s

Posada was a commercial engraver who made numerous illustrations for newspapers and posters, though his prints often survive as loose sheets, removed from their original context, like the two smaller engravings shown here. Today he is best known for his often satirical images of calaveras, or skulls and skeletons. In the workshop of Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, Posada and other printmakers, like the more senior Manuel Manilla, produced thousands of blocks that continued to be reused in publications even after their deaths. Manilla engraved the primary scene of Calavera del Telele and the skeleton below, while Posada’s laughing skeletons flank the text. Posada’s reputation grew substantially after his death, partly due to publications by enthusiastic artist-scholars, including Carlos Mérida, Jean Charlot, Diego Rivera, and José Clemente Orozco. They called him the “printmaker to the Mexican people,” arguing that he represented an authentically Mexican art that was the antithesis of European academic art.