¡Terrible y verdadera noticia! (Terrible and Real News!)
Medium
Relief engraving or photo relief etching on tan wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 24.8 × 16.2 cm (9 3/4 × 6 7/16 in.); Sheet: 29.9 × 40.2 cm (11 13/16 × 15 7/8 in.)
Classification
relief etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
11052
Art Historical Context
José Guadalupe Posada, a Mexican printmaker, created *¡Terrible y verdadera! (Terrible and News!)* in 1910, a pivotal year marking the onset of the Mexican Revolution. This relief etching on tan wove paper exemplifiesada's signature style of satirical broadsheets, often featuring calaveras—skeletal figures drawn from Mexican folk traditions like Día de los Muertos. Through these macabre yet humorous images, Posada critiqued social inequalities, political corruption, and the elite under Porfirio Díaz's long regime, making art accessible to the working class via inexpensive newsprint. The title...
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...