A profile of a man looking to the right with a dark mustache
ca. 1880–1910
Medium
Woodcut
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 5/16 × 4 15/16 in. (11 × 12.5 cm) Image: 15/16 × 11/16 in. (2.4 × 1.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Roberto Berdecio, 1960
Accession Number
60.678.47
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold the incisive simplicity of *A Profile of a Man Looking to the Right with a Dark Mustache*, a woodcut by José Guadalupe Posada, Mexico's beloved master of popular printmaking (ca. 1880–1910). Posada, active during the turbulent Porfiriato era the lead-up to the Mexican Revolution crafted thousands of bold, black-and-white images for broadsheets, newspapers, andidos—narrative ballads that captured the pulse of everyday life, satire, and social commentary. This diminutive profile (image just 15/16 × 11/16 in.) exemplifies his knack for distilling human character into stark, memorable forms...
About the Artist
José Guadalupe Posada · 1852–1913
José Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913) was a Mexican printmaker and engraver who revolutionized popular art and created some of the most iconic images in Mexican culture. Working primarily with publisher Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, he produced over 20,000 images during his career—inexpensive broadsheets sold for a penny on colored paper that made his art accessible to even the poorest workers. He transform...