The brave man from Gaudalajara facing a tiger
Medium
Type-metal engraving
Dimensions
Sheet: 3 1/4 × 4 15/16 in. (8.2 × 12.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Jean Charlot, 1929
Accession Number
29.101.11
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the spirited world of early 20th-century Mexican printmaking, José Guadalupeada's *The Brave Man from Guadalajara Facing a Tiger* (ca. 1900) captures a dramatic confrontation straight from folklore. This tiny type-metal engraving—measuring just 3¼ × 4⅞ inches—likely portrays a heroic figure from Guadalajara boldly facing a tiger, amid scenes involving men and women, ev tales of courage and adventure in everyday Mexican life. Posada excelled in type-metal engraving, a relief printing technique where images are incised into metal plates (often repurposed from typography) for bold, high-contr...
About the Artist
José Guadalupe Posada|Jean Charlot · 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...