· web viewmural paintings on the exterior of saloons, native folk art, and political cartoonists...

16
AP Art, Weeks 12: Printmaking Goals: 6.03 Accept other's work and ideas as unique expression of themselves. 6.08 Accept and offer constructive criticism. 7.03 Utilize universal themes that exist within the arts disciplines. Learn that printmakers make multiple originals using woodcuts, linocuts, lithography, etching, and silkscreen printing. Learn that artists sometimes choose printmaking as a method for communicating to large numbers of people. Learn to compare the effort of printmaking with one-of-a-kind art making processes, such as painting. Learn that Chicana/o and Mexican artists have a strong tradition of using prints to protest or persuade. Learn how to distinguish multiple original prints from mass-produced posters and reproductions. Resources mati.eas.asu.edu/ChicanArte/html_pages/Protest.L6.html mati.eas.asu.edu/ChicanArte/html_pages/Protest.L2-PrintM.html José Guadalupe Posada, Carlos Cortez, Alfredo Zalce Art in Focus, Advanced Studio Activities, page 69-71 (for early finishers, break time) Books: Modern Japanese Prints by Oliver Statler "Evolution, Five Decades of Printmaking by David C. Driskell," by Adrienne L. Childs, Pomegranate Communications, Inc., 2007 Prints & People by A. Hyatt Major Sister Corita print book www.marieweaver.com/www.marieweaver.com/Printmaking.html What is a print? www.moma.org/interactives/projects/2001/whatisaprint/flash.html www.speedballart.com/cms_wfc/uploads/153.pdf www.sabrafield.com/s/f/318.html (especially Pandora) www.driskellcenter.umd.edu/evolution/prints/index.php www.workbook.com/portfolios/summers www.dezeinswell.com/blog/3-new-prints-available#!/-1/ Procedures On screen: socialactive.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/haring-noose.jpg, discuss visual and emotional impacts.

Upload: lekhuong

Post on 11-May-2018

222 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1:  · Web viewMural paintings on the exterior of saloons, native folk art, and political cartoonists of the period played roles in shaping Posada's works. Alfredo Zalce's Untitled Woodcut,

AP Art, Weeks 12: PrintmakingGoals:

6.03 Accept other's work and ideas as unique expression of themselves.6.08 Accept and offer constructive criticism.

7.03 Utilize universal themes that exist within the arts disciplines. Learn that printmakers make multiple originals using woodcuts, linocuts,

lithography, etching, and silkscreen printing. Learn that artists sometimes choose printmaking as a method for communicating to large numbers of people.

Learn to compare the effort of printmaking with one-of-a-kind art making processes, such as painting. Learn that Chicana/o and Mexican artists have a strong tradition of using prints to protest or persuade.

Learn how to distinguish multiple original prints from mass-produced posters and reproductions.

Resourcesmati.eas.asu.edu/ChicanArte/html_pages/Protest.L6.htmlmati.eas.asu.edu/ChicanArte/html_pages/Protest.L2-PrintM.html

José Guadalupe Posada, Carlos Cortez, Alfredo ZalceArt in Focus, Advanced Studio Activities, page 69-71 (for early finishers, break time)Books: Modern Japanese Prints by Oliver Statler

"Evolution, Five Decades of Printmaking by David C. Driskell," by Adrienne L. Childs,Pomegranate Communications, Inc., 2007

Prints & People by A. Hyatt MajorSister Corita print book

www.marieweaver.com/www.marieweaver.com/Printmaking.htmlWhat is a print? www.moma.org/interactives/projects/2001/whatisaprint/flash.htmlwww.speedballart.com/cms_wfc/uploads/153.pdfwww.sabrafield.com/s/f/318.html (especially Pandora)www.driskellcenter.umd.edu/evolution/prints/index.phpwww.workbook.com/portfolios/summerswww.dezeinswell.com/blog/3-new-prints-available#!/-1/

ProceduresOn screen: socialactive.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/haring-noose.jpg, discuss visual and emotional impacts.In class, finish the Art for Protest and Persuasion Worksheet on one Chicano printmaker influenced by the Mexican Revolution (1910-1917): Cortez, Posada, Zalce or another protest printmaker of your choosing.

Oil paintings are due Wednesday. Put up on wall for class critique. Invite Art 3 commentary.

Create a linocut with a protest theme. Think about ideas in the worksheets and think about protests that are going on now in the world. Your work may be figurative, abstract or non-representational, have an obvious connection to the protest or a tangential connection. Conduct an internet search for 'protest art' to brainstorm ideas for your print.

Students work on worksheets together, brainstorming ideas and imagesCreate two different layouts: remember your Rule of Thirds, unusual views, contrast.

Speedball Block Printing DVD: History, How to Block Print-take notes as needed.mati.eas.asu.edu/ChicanArte/html_pages/Protest.L5-PrintM.html (linocuts made by high school students)Speedball Block Printing DVD: Carving

Page 2:  · Web viewMural paintings on the exterior of saloons, native folk art, and political cartoonists of the period played roles in shaping Posada's works. Alfredo Zalce's Untitled Woodcut,

Carving the blockOn 6x9" tracing paper, trace the approvedimage for the linocut using a soft art pencil.Place the tracing pencil-side down onto the block, being sure it is centered. Cut away all pencil lines. These are the shapes and lines that are to be the lighter color, the color of the paper.Do not cut where the black or dark ink will be.

PrintingSpeedball Block Printing DVD: Inking, PrintingChoose several 9x12" papers and dark ink.Write your name in pencil on the back of each sheet of paper. Carefully wash your block with soap and water. Set on the heater to dry thoroughly.On an acrylic inking plate, put out a thin line of ink at the top. Too much or too little ink will make a lousy print; it takes practice! Use a brayer (roller) to spread the ink out on the plate as evenly as possible. Roll the brayer onto the carved block in an even layer. Be sure to get every raised part inked. Don't press so hard that you get ink in the carved areas! With CLEAN HANDS, press the inked block onto the paper, centering it as best you can.Then FLIP IT OVER SO THE PAPER IS ON TOP! Rub the back of the paper with a clean, dry brayer.Remove the print and place it carefully on the drying rack.

It takes practice to make good prints! Keep trying! You must make several excellent practice prints on construction paper before you will be given the final print paper.

Protest-themed Linocut

1. Create two different layouts of the same idea (your protest theme). You may use a landscape (horizontal) or portrait (vertical) layout.

2. Think of symbols and images you can use to illustrate your protest theme. Make this a unique artwork. You will be required to redraw any layout that does not include the following:theme of protest cropping strong imagesintricate texture or details excellent compositioninteraction between foreground and background (a sense of place, no empty backgrounds)

3. Draw where you will carve out the block to show the paper. It is easier to carve thin lines than it is to leave thin lines and carve around them.

4. Show your teacher your two completed layouts for approval so you may start cutting the block.

5. Create a limited print edition of four excellent one-color linocut prints exhibiting excellent craftsmanship, and demonstrating technical skill of printmaking.

6. Project due by _______________________________

Page 3:  · Web viewMural paintings on the exterior of saloons, native folk art, and political cartoonists of the period played roles in shaping Posada's works. Alfredo Zalce's Untitled Woodcut,

Art for Protest and PersuasionWe all choose which traditions to follow and which to challenge. When people are not satisfied with things the way they are, they sometimes work to change things by criticizing or protesting the old ways and replacing them with new ways.

In many cultures, artists use their artworks to protest or to bring attention to their ideas. Sometimes a painting, sculpture, or building can persuade just as well or better, than words can. Art can protest, propose, and provoke ideas.

Look for political cartoons as examples.

What do "Chicana" and "Chicano" mean?Chicanas (female) and Chicanos (male) are citizens or permanent residents of the United States who are of Mexican descent. Many Chicana/os trace their heritage both to Hispanic and Native American culture. The terms, "Mexican Americans" and "Chicanos" are synonyms, but the latter usually expresses more ethnic pride © 2001 Hispanic Research Center, Arizona State University. All Rights Reserved. mati.eas.asu.edu/ChicanArte/, mati.eas.asu.edu/ChicanArte/what.chicana.html

After learning about the Chicano print artists' works, think about what you know about protests.

What protests are going on now in the world? Name issues that you feel strongly about. They can be local, state, national, or international in scope.

Answer the following questions about the artist and artwork provided. Be sure to USE YOUR OWN WORDS!

1. Artist: _________________________________2. Date of print: _______________________________

2. What is the title of this artwork? _________________________________________________________

4. What important Mexican event influenced this artwork? ______________________________________

5. By what process was this artwork made? ________________________________________________

6. Describe, specifically, the background in this image. What kind of place is it? _________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

7. Describe the rest of the artwork: focal point and details.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

8. What kind of people would purchase prints like this? _________________________________________

9. What modern equivalent to this print can you identify? (What renders your political view visibly?) _________________________________________________________________________________________

Page 4:  · Web viewMural paintings on the exterior of saloons, native folk art, and political cartoonists of the period played roles in shaping Posada's works. Alfredo Zalce's Untitled Woodcut,

Carlos Cortez's Untitled Linocut, 1978DESCRIPTION: What is visible in the artwork? The linocut depicts Mexican Revolutionary, Ricardo Flores Magón (1873-1922) from his cell in the Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary. Magón is wearing a prison suit and stands before prison bars. He stands at a 3/4 angle to the viewer. He has thick hair, eyeglasses, a mustache, and strong features. In his right had he holds a fountain pen and in his left a sheet of paper with printed words and his signature. The paper is adisplaying a manifesto which he has just completed and signed that criticizes "art for art's sake." The translation of the letter is as follows:

This stuff of "art for its own sake" is an absurdity and its defenders have always gotten on my nerves. I feel such a reverent admiration and love for art that it causes me great distress to see it prostituted by individuals who incapable of having others feel what they feel nor think what they think, hide their impotence behind the slogan of "art for art's sake."

The name and address of a Chicano art organization appear at the bottom of the print.

MEDIA AND PROCESSES: What can I learn about how the artwork was made?

Carlos Cortez's linocut is an example of a relatively recent relief-printing technique. In order to make

readable letters on the manifesto, Cortez had to not only leave the letters standing while he carved out the white, negative spaces around them, he had to do this while carving in reverse.

ELEMENTS: What elements of art do I see?

The work uses only black and white, which lend themselves to the production of a linocut that is inexpensive to duplicate and distribute. Black and white are the two extremes of value (dark and light) and they are contrastively combined to great advantage. This is vividly apparent in Flores Magón's striped prison suit; the white bars and the black spaces between them; the white face set against the foreground of the black mustache, eyeglasses and hair; the black pen held in the white hand; and the manifesto that appears in black against a white sheet of paper.

FORMAL ORGANIZATION: What principles of art do I see?

The perspective is from the inside with the viewer able to see nothing outside of the cell bars except black spaces. Flores Magón's head and hands, drawn primarily with rounded contours contrast sharply with the horizontal stripes of the prisoner's outfit and the prison bars that feature vertical and horizontal lines filled with black spaces.

MEDIA AND PROCESSES: What can I learn about how the artwork was made?

Page 5:  · Web viewMural paintings on the exterior of saloons, native folk art, and political cartoonists of the period played roles in shaping Posada's works. Alfredo Zalce's Untitled Woodcut,

Carlos Cortez's linocut is an example of a relatively recent relief-printing technique. In order to make readable letters on the manifesto, Cortez had to not only leave the letters standing while he carved out the white, negative spaces around them, he had to do this while carving in reverse.

ELEMENTS: What elements of art do I see?

The work uses only black and white, which lend themselves to the production of a linocut that is inexpensive to duplicate and distribute. Black and white are the two extremes of value (dark and light) and they are contrastively combined to great advantage. This is vividly apparent in Flores Magón's striped prison suit; the white bars and the black spaces between them; the white face set against the foreground of the black mustache, eyeglasses and hair; the black pen held in the white hand; and the manifesto that appears in black against a white sheet of paper.

FORMAL ORGANIZATION: What principles of art do I see?

The perspective is from the inside with the viewer able to see nothing outside of the cell bars except black spaces. Flores Magón's head and hands, drawn primarily with rounded contours contrast sharply with the horizontal stripes of the prisoner's outfit and the prison bars that feature vertical and horizontal lines filled with black spaces.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE ARTIST Carlos Cortez was born on August 13, 1923 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the son of Alfredo Cortez, a Mexican partisan of the Industrial Workers of the World (acronym, IWW), and a German socialist-pacifist mother, Augusta Cortez. He later moved to Chicago. He spent two years in federal prison (Sandstone, Minnesota) during World War II as a conscientious objector "because he did not want to kill living things." Upon his release from federal detention in 1947 he joined the IWW and remained active for five decades as a graphic artist, poet, and advisor. Cortez had been a muralist, woodblock and linoleum-block artist, and cartoonist. FUNCTION: What can I learn about how the artwork was used?

The Flores Magón linocut is one of a series of such that Carlos Cortez produced that depict labor heroes. The series includes depictions of Lucy Parsons, Joe Hill, Mother Jones, Ben Fletcher, and César Chávez. The purpose of this series, including the Flores Magón linocut, was to inspire young workers world wide, to invigorate their commitment to the workers movement, and to recognize and recapture the contributions of past labor heroes. The Flores Magón linocut has an additional specific goal directed toward Chicanos and the Chicano Movement which had become widespread and influential by 1978, the date of the work. This goal was to relate the Chicano Movement of the 1960s and 1970s to the earlier activities of Flores Magón and his followers which led to the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Thus the linocut of Flores Magón was intended to inspire and encourage the contemporary Chicano Movement and to help its followers recapture and understand its roots in prior struggles revolving around the Mexican Revolution of 1910. INFLUENCE: What can I learn about how earlier artworks influenced this artwork or about whether this artwork influenced later artworks?

Carlos Cortez has acknowledged the influence of José Guadalupe Posada, who greatly influenced the images of Alfredo Zalce and others who share with Carlos Cortez the use of art as a means of social education and reform. Others who have influenced Cortez are the American cartoonist, Art Young (1866-1943), biting German political cartoonist, George Grosz (1893-1959) who fled Nazi Germany in 1932, and Kathë Kollwitz (1867-1945), German painter, lithographer, and etcher of life among the poor and the proletariat.

Page 6:  · Web viewMural paintings on the exterior of saloons, native folk art, and political cartoonists of the period played roles in shaping Posada's works. Alfredo Zalce's Untitled Woodcut,

DESCRIPTIONWhat is visible in the artwork?

A female calavera (skull/skeleton) rides a horse and swings a lasso over her head with her right hand. She wears a black, scalloped sombrero and is dressed in a tucked-in sailor blouse with a dark collar. She wears a belt and her skirt flies up, exposing her button-up boots or leggings. The calavera is riding astride, not side saddle. She also wears a bullet belt with a gun slung around her waist. Her horse is dark with a long white blaze down the middle of its face, from its forehead to its nose. The horse's nostrils are flared and its eyes are wide opened. The horse is in full gallop with its tail swooping up while it lunges forward. Only one foot is on the ground. The horse has a medallion around its neck. At the bottom of the print, under the horse's feet are four small campesinos (farm workers). On the far left is a "living" agricultural worker running with two other "living dead" male calaveras. All three wear sombreros. The female calavera on the right wears a ribbon on her head. These tiny calaveras are overwhelmed by the galloping horse and all are running with their hands in the air. The landscape is mountainous with some vegetation. There are four birds flying in the upper right corner. A decorative, linear, scroll-like design with notches frames the entire image.MEDIA AND PROCESSES: What can I learn about how the artwork was made?

It was printed from a zinc plate etched by an acid bath. The image is first drawn onto the zinc plate using a pen with a greasy ink that protects the marks from the acid bath. The plate is then placed in an acid solution. The acid erodes into the plate leaving the drawn lines standing in relief. After the acid is rinsed off, a roller is used to ink the plate. The ink rests on the raised surfaces protected from the acid. The plate is put in a press and the image is printed. The printed image is reversed, that is, the print image is a mirror image of the plate. This technique was developed in France in the mid-eighteenth century.

ELEMENTS: What elements of art do I see?

The image is created by printing black ink on light colored paper. The illusion of gray is created by the close proximity of lines. Due to the nature of some printing processes, areas that are printed black may have a few small white splotches because the paper may not be fully saturated with ink. In the foreground are the dark figures of the calavera and horse set against a light background. Line variations include thin, thick, scalloped, and curvilinear lines. Parallel lines create a tonal quality (shades of gray). Because there are only some very small areas that do not have any marks, an energetic quality defines the image.

FORMAL ORGANIZATION: What principles of art do I see?

The composition centers around the triangular shape of the calavera and her horse, the images with the highest contrasts in value (light and dark). The repeated lines in the background create a roughly gray effect. Because of this overall grayish tone of the background, viewers may miss details (like birds and mountains) if they do not focus on background areas.

The illusion of shadows, created by the hatched lines, forms rhythm. The main focal points are the heads of the calavera revolucionaria and her horse. Movement is created by the repetition of lines in her skirt and in the

Page 7:  · Web viewMural paintings on the exterior of saloons, native folk art, and political cartoonists of the period played roles in shaping Posada's works. Alfredo Zalce's Untitled Woodcut,

horse's tail. The large scale of the calavera and her horse emphasizes the importance of these central figures. With only one foot on the ground, the rider and horse illustrate a sense of instability, urgency, power, and speed. The smaller calaveras are dominated, trampled under foot, and are left behind in a swirling turbulence of lines.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE ARTIST

José Guadalupe Posada Aguilar was born in Aguascalientes, Mexico in 1852. He was one of nine male children. As a child, he worked for his uncle, Manuel Posada, in his pottery shop and later assisted his brother who was a rural teacher. At the age of eighteen, Posada attended art school.

José Posada became an apprentice to José Trinidad Pedroza, a publisher, printer, and graphic artist. Pedroza taught Posada the printmaking techniques for lithography and engraving on wood and metal. It was at this print shop that Posada began political satire. Pedroza moved away and left Posada as the head of the shop, which Posada later bought. In Mexico City in 1892, José Posada became the chief artist with the publishing house of Don Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, the publisher of newspapers and periodicals. These broadsides were cheap and accessible to the general public, and were disseminated sometimes by the thousands. José Posada's imagery included natural disasters, satirical commentary concerning politics and the common people, ballads, heroes, assassins, tragedy, miracles, death, and revolution. Posada was Mexico's most prolific printmaker. The number of works produced is estimated at 20,000. He died in 1913 at the age of 61 years.

FUNCTION: What can I learn about how the artwork was used?

This print along with many other of José Guadalupe Posada's works is from a popular broadside. These were inexpensive prints distributed throughout Mexico and were read by many people. These illustrated publications allowed those who were illiterate to understand the events of their times. Posada's images could be easily understood by all. They functioned as records, commentary, and satire of events of his time.

CULTURAL CONTEXT: What can I determine about what people thought, believed, or did in the culture in which the artwork was made?

José Guadalupe Posada made this print circa 1910. During this time Mexico was entering a revolution. Posada was an outspoken critic of the Mexican government. He was an artist for the common people of Mexico. Posada was also a political satirist. Many times local and state governments were the objects of political satire.

STYLE: How does the artwork look like other artworks?

INFLUENCE: What can I learn about how earlier artworks influenced this artwork or about whether this artwork influenced later artworks? José Guadalupe Posada may have been influenced by a variety of sources. First, symbols from past native civilizations such as shells, skulls, snakes, blood, and thunder, along with early Colonial religious prints influenced Posada. There were other accomplished graphic Mexican artists of the 19th century. Posada was surely familiar with their works. The photography of Casasola (known for his photographs of the Mexican Revolution of 1910) is said to have affected Posada. He read many different weeklies from the U.S. and Europe which contained graphic works. Mural paintings on the exterior of saloons, native folk art, and political cartoonists of the period played roles in shaping Posada's works.

Page 8:  · Web viewMural paintings on the exterior of saloons, native folk art, and political cartoonists of the period played roles in shaping Posada's works. Alfredo Zalce's Untitled Woodcut,

Alfredo Zalce's Untitled Woodcut, circa 1941

DESCRIPTION: What is visible in the artwork? The woodcut depicts a scene containing features of the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1919. In the foreground lies a humble, wounded Mexican revolutionary of Indian stock. He wears the traditional dress and sandals (called huaraches) of the Mexican peasant. His head wound is being tended to by his barefoot female companion. She is identified as one of the rieleras (camp followers, riding the commandeered trains with their male revolutionary counterparts) through

reference to the locomotive that fills the upper left background. In the right foreground, rifles are arrayed in a self-supporting tripod, in the middle of which is a large cache of ammunition, including cartridge belts. In the right background appear Mexican peasants. One is a male revolutionary with a rifle and three are women carrying loads.

MEDIA AND PROCESSES: What can I learn about how the artwork was made? Alfredo Zalce's woodcut is an example of one of the earliest methods of making prints from a relief surface, dating from at least the 5th century AD in China. ELEMENTS: What elements of art do I see? Texture is often the dominant sensory quality in woodcuts. Zalce's print includes a variety of textured areas, for example, thin, parallel straight lines in the train engine; long, slightly curved tapered gouges in the sky; shorter gouges in many directions in the mountains; and short, triangular gouges on the ground.

FORMAL ORGANIZATION: What principles of art do I see? There is a strong formal contrast vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines. The vertical and horizontal lines are prominent in the recumbent, ailing revolutionary, the horizontal railroad tracks, and the locomotive. In opposition to these are the diagonals of the rifles and the woman. In this formal use of line, in the subject matter (a woman nursing a wounded man with a bandage), and in the dynamic posture of the woman, caught in mid-movement, partially kneeling and steadied by her covered right leg and tense left foot which is supporting her weight, there is an echo of similar images of women comforting Christ. The locomotive which appears in midground, blocks off the foreground. In the right half of the print a traveling Mexican male and female peasants are in the background against the backdrop of mountains or large hills.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE ARTIST Alfredo Zalce was born January 12, 1908 in Patzcuaro, Michoacán, Mexico. His father and mother were both professional photographers. Zalce attended school in Mexico City; during these years he also helped his parents develop film. He studied art (supporting himself as a photographer) at the Escuela Central de Artes Plásticas, later named the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes. FUNCTION: What can I learn about how the artwork was used? The work is printed with only one color, black, on brown paper which lends itself to inexpensive duplication and distribution among ordinary Mexicans.

Page 9:  · Web viewMural paintings on the exterior of saloons, native folk art, and political cartoonists of the period played roles in shaping Posada's works. Alfredo Zalce's Untitled Woodcut,

The work reflects what Art historian Raquel Tibol calls Alfredo Zalce's "missionary sense of art." That mission was to instruct the younger generation in the achievements of the Mexican Revolution of 1910, to continue to stir the people to revolutionary zeal, and to help the Mexican people see their potential for progressing through concerted political action. In 1950 he became the director of the Escuela Popular de Bellas Artes de Morelia (sponsored by the University of Michoacán) and the Escuela de Pintura y Artesanías de Morelia (sponsored by the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes). FUNCTION: What can I learn about how the artwork was used? The work is printed with only one color, black, on brown paper which lends itself to inexpensive duplication and distribution among ordinary Mexicans. The work reflects what Art historian Raquel Tibol calls Alfredo Zalce's "missionary sense of art." That mission was to instruct the younger generation in the achievements of the Mexican Revolution of 1910, to continue to stir the people to revolutionary zeal, and to help the Mexican people see their potential for progressing through concerted political action. MAKER'S INTENTION: What can I learn about why the maker wanted the artwork to look the way it does? Writing in 1947, Alfredo Zalce expressed his general views about the goals of the Taller de Gráfica Popular (TGP). That statement well summarizes the artist's intention about the work reproduced in this project: "The goals of those of us who founded the TGP were to do graphics for the people: our clients were workers' organizations. Prints had an established function and a real consumer, not a hypothetical client. The TGP did not enter contests nor did we win prizes or honorifics. We did not follow fashions because our work was vital. With all frankness, if a print was not liked by those who had asked for it or by other members of the TGP, it was redone and that was that. If critics liked it or didn't like our art was of no importance because our efforts reflected our participation in an anti-Nazi celebration, the founding of a school, or a First of May celebration. A specific social climate caused our art to flower." Alfredo Zalce letter to Antonio Rodríguez, 1949, in Raquel Tibol, Gráficas y neográficas en México, Mexico City: Secretaría de Educación Pública/Universidad Nacional de México, 1987, 179 (Transl. from the Spanish by Gary D. Keller Cárdenas).

VIEWER UNDERSTANDING: What can I determine about how the viewer understood the artwork? The viewers for which the work was created were the common or humble Mexican workers and peasants, both men and women. The work has a certain didactic purpose, to illustrate a liberating aspect of the Mexican revolution in which men and women worked together for a common purpose.

CULTURAL IMPACT: What can I learn about how the artwork was understood within culture in which it was made? The artwork was part of a government-supported and sanctioned corpus of popular, widely-circulated revolutionary images. While the images were stirring, militant, and often violent, they were not controversial. The Mexican citizenry of the 1930s and 1940s reflected back on its Revolution with great pride and for the most part strongly supported the Mexican government which had inherited that Revolution

STYLE: How does the artwork look like other artworks? The print has an immediacy that permits the ordinary Mexican to readily recognize the subject matter. The revolutionary and his caring woman, the locomotive, the railroad tracks, the rifles, and the cartridge belts are all represented large and sharply so that the Mexican peasantry can easily identify the subject matter as a representation of their own class in the Mexican Revolution of 1910. The characteristics of immediacy, illustrative images quite readily understood even by illiterate Mexican workers or peasants, and relative accessibility through the printing of inexpensive editions, was the trademark of the Taller de Gráfica Popular. During the years from 1937-1949, the TGP published 555 portfolios and 46,750 prints.