Leopoldo Méndez was a founding member, with Luis Arenal, Raúl Anguiano, and Pablo O'Higgins, of the Taller de Gráfica Popular (The People's Print Workshop), established in Mexico City in 1937. The TGP was a collective center for the creation of sociopolitical art. Sharing the postrevolutionary idealism of the Mexican muralists, the TGP aimed to reach a broad audience, primarily through the dissemination of inexpensive wood- and linoleum-block prints. There was a sense among TGP artists that they were part of a Mexican tradition going back to the prints of José Guadalupe Posada (1852–1913) in the nineteenth century. In this linoleum cut, Méndez pays homage to Posada. Ilona Katzew, 2008

José Guadalupe Posada (1852–1913) is best known for illustrating mass-distributed broadsides featuring popular stories and current events. The widespread reach and appeal of his works helped cement him as a leading model for post-revolutionary artists, and members of the TGP consciously positioned themselves as heirs to Posada. Here, Leopoldo Méndez renders an imagined scene of Posada at his work table, translating the skirmish outside his window onto the printing matrix in front of him. Méndez includes a calendar that reads “1902,” the year of his own birth, subtly referencing himself while honoring Posada.

From exhibition Pressing Politics: Revolutionary Graphics from Mexico and Germany, 2022 (for more information see the catalogue entry by Rachel Kaplan in the accompanying publication, pp. 62–63)