Posada's Calaveras

ポサダのカラベラ / 1880s–1913 / Style / Popular Prints

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.

Posada's Calaveras — Posada, La Calavera Catrina, c. 1910 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Posada, La Calavera Catrina, c. 1910 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Posada's Calaveras — Calavera of Don Quixote, Library of Congress — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Calavera of Don Quixote, Library of Congress — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Posada's Calaveras — José Guadalupe Posada, Calavera of the Publisher Vanegas Arroyo, broadside — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — José Guadalupe Posada, Calavera of the Publisher Vanegas Arroyo, broadside — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

At a glance

Visual cues

Personified skeletons
Rough zinc-etched lines
Sharing the sheet with broadside type
Satire that laughs at death

Best used for

Satirical drawing that needles power and the news for papers and magazines
Festival announcements and goods that treat death as an occasion for laughter

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Dictionary entry

Type: Headlines set as broadside type, packed above and below the image
Composition: Crowds of skeletons ranged across, sorted by the hats and dress of rank
Material: Rough zinc-etched line printed black on coarse paper, trimmed close
Caution: Using the skeleton as a merely spooky motif blunts the satire that laughed at class, and the result becomes indistinguishable from seasonal decoration.
Further study: José Guadalupe Posada / the Vanegas Arroyo press / Rivera's rediscovery

Related entries

Mexican Muralism (メキシコ壁画運動)Shared effects: Rebellion.Compare Posada's Calaveras and Mexican Muralism
Épinal Print (エピナル版画)Same Popular Prints lineage.Compare Posada's Calaveras and Épinal Print

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