Description
A number of 20th-century Mexican artists admired José Guadalupe Posada for reaching a broad public through striking imagery and inexpensively printed works. Posada combined image and text in his depictions of social and political issues so that they were accessible to workers, many of whom were illiterate. This print is part of a series in which he used skeletons to humorously comment on current events, such as the danger of electric trams in Mexico City. A streetcar delivers passengers to the figure of Death, who beckons them forward, suggesting that the graveyard where he stands is an inevitable stop on their journey.
Provenance
(Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH) (?-2000); Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (2000-)
Accession Number
2000.97
Medium
relief etching and letterpress
Dimensions
Sheet: 39.4 x 29.3 cm (15 1/2 x 11 9/16 in.)
Classification
Credit Line
Gift from funds of various donors to the Department of Prints and Drawings