Leopoldo Méndez
Sowing (La siembra)1948

Not on view

Artist or Maker: Leopoldo Méndez
Mexico, Mexico City, 1902-1969
Title: Sowing (La siembra)
Date Made: 1948
Medium: Linocut
Dimensions: Image (per Paper Conservation 01/04/22): 15 7/8 × 11 15/16 in. (40.32 × 30.32 cm) Sheet (per Paper Conservation 01/04/22): 17 × 19 1/2 in. (43.18 × 49.53 cm) Mat: 18 × 22 in. (45.72 × 55.88 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ben and Shirley Berman
Accession Number: M.2001.15.2
Classification: Prints
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: Leopoldo Méndez created this linocut for the opening credits of the film Pueblerina, directed by Emilio Fernández (1904–1986) and shot by Gabriel Figueroa (1907–1997)—two greats of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. Film collaborations offered a new creative avenue to Méndez, who had long aspired to make graphic murals and to create prints on a large scale. In this image, the artist represents the film’s protagonists at work sowing a field. Employing a low-angle perspective, Méndez endows the work with a monumental quality that would be further enhanced by its projection on the movie screen.

Rachel Kaplan, 2023
Selected Exhibition History: Under the Mexican Sky: Gabriel Figueroa—Art and Film. September 22, 2013 - February 2, 2014
Pressing Politics: Revolutionary Graphics from Mexico and Germany. October 29, 2022 - July 22, 2023
Copyright: © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SOMAAP, Mexico City

Related Exhibitions

Not on view

Artist or Maker: Leopoldo Méndez
Mexico, Mexico City, 1902-1969
Title: Sowing (La siembra)
Date Made: 1948
Medium: Linocut
Dimensions: Image (per Paper Conservation 01/04/22): 15 7/8 × 11 15/16 in. (40.32 × 30.32 cm) Sheet (per Paper Conservation 01/04/22): 17 × 19 1/2 in. (43.18 × 49.53 cm) Mat: 18 × 22 in. (45.72 × 55.88 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ben and Shirley Berman
Accession Number: M.2001.15.2
Classification: Prints
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: Leopoldo Méndez created this linocut for the opening credits of the film Pueblerina, directed by Emilio Fernández (1904–1986) and shot by Gabriel Figueroa (1907–1997)—two greats of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. Film collaborations offered a new creative avenue to Méndez, who had long aspired to make graphic murals and to create prints on a large scale. In this image, the artist represents the film’s protagonists at work sowing a field. Employing a low-angle perspective, Méndez endows the work with a monumental quality that would be further enhanced by its projection on the movie screen.

Rachel Kaplan, 2023
Selected Exhibition History: Under the Mexican Sky: Gabriel Figueroa—Art and Film. September 22, 2013 - February 2, 2014
Pressing Politics: Revolutionary Graphics from Mexico and Germany. October 29, 2022 - July 22, 2023