Épinal Print vs Posada's Calaveras

エピナル版画 / ポサダのカラベラ

Both sit in Popular Prints, so the question is not what they belong to but how they behave. Both are read here as style. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.

Épinal Print

Épinal Print — エピナル版画『Souriquet』 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainÉpinal Print — 『Une ingénieuse capture』 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainÉpinal Print — 報道版画 1894（CC0）

Pellerin of Épinal mass-produced popular prints whose clear outlines and stencil color told stories, armies and morals. They shaped popular vision so completely that 'image d'Épinal' came to mean a rosy cliché.

Posada's Calaveras

Posada's Calaveras — ポサダ『ラ・カラベラ・カトリーナ』1910頃 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainPosada's Calaveras — 『ドン・キホーテのカラベラ』（米国議会図書館） — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainPosada's Calaveras — ホセ・グアダルーペ・ポサダ《出版人バネガス・アローヨのカラベラ》瓦版 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

The skeleton satires Posada engraved for Mexican broadsides: dressed-up calaveras laughing at class and death alike. La Catrina became a national icon of the Day of the Dead and Mexican graphics.

Épinal PrintPosada's Calaveras
Era1796–1880s–1913
FamilyPopular PrintsPopular Prints
KindStyleStyle
CuesClear outlines / Bright stencil coloring / Stories in panels / Morals and hero talesPersonified skeletons / Rough zinc-etched lines / Sharing the sheet with broadside type / Satire that laughs at death
Best used forStory cards for children and teaching plates read in a strict sequence · Nostalgic packaging for food or souvenirs told through narrative imagerySatirical drawing that needles power and the news for papers and magazines · Festival announcements and goods that treat death as an occasion for laughter
TypeOne caption line under each panel, one face and one measure throughoutHeadlines set as broadside type, packed above and below the image
CompositionPanels ruled into an even grid, the story moving top row to bottomCrowds of skeletons ranged across, sorted by the hats and dress of rank
MaterialA black outline plate with four bright stencil colors, slight misfit keptRough zinc-etched line printed black on coarse paper, trimmed close
CautionCopying only the bright color and the neat frames removes the moral spine of the story and leaves a cliche that sells nothing but nostalgia.Using the skeleton as a merely spooky motif blunts the satire that laughed at class, and the result becomes indistinguishable from seasonal decoration.

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