Torches (Las antorchas)

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Torches (Las antorchas)

Edition: Edition of 150
Portfolio: Río Escondido
Mexico, Mexico City, 1947, published 1948
Prints; linocuts
Linocut
12 7/8 × 16 7/8 in. (32.7 × 42.86 cm)
Gift of Jules and Gloria Heller (M.2003.92.10)
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

This linocut belongs to a suite of ten prints that Leopoldo Méndez created for the film Río Escondido (Hidden River), directed by Emilio Fernández (1904–1986) and shot by Gabriel F

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This linocut belongs to a suite of ten prints that Leopoldo Méndez created for the film Río Escondido (Hidden River), directed by Emilio Fernández (1904–1986) and shot by Gabriel Figueroa (1907–1997)—two greats of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. The prints, which appear during the film’s opening credits, are graphic interpretations of scenes viewers see as the narrative unfolds. Film collaborations offered a new creative avenue to Méndez, who had long aspired to make graphic murals and to create prints on a monumental scale. In this image Méndez portrays the film’s climax, in which the people join together to rise up and reclaim their town from a tyrannical leader.


Rachel Kaplan, 2023
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Provenance

Taller de Gráfica Popular, Mexico City, 1948; Dr. Jules Heller (1919–2007), Scottsdale, Arizona; LACMA, 2003.

Exhibition history

  • Under the Mexican Sky: Gabriel Figueroa—Art and Film Los Angeles, CA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, September 22, 2013 - February 2, 2014