- Title
- Torches (Las antorchas)
- Date Made
- 1947, published 1948
- Medium
- Linocut
- Dimensions
- 12 7/8 × 16 7/8 in. (32.7 × 42.86 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2003.92.10
- Collecting Area
- Latin American Art
- Curatorial 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 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
- Provenance
Taller de Gráfica Popular, Mexico City, 1948; Dr. Jules Heller (1919–2007), Scottsdale, Arizona; LACMA, 2003.
- Selected Exhibition History
- Under the Mexican Sky: Gabriel Figueroa—Art and Film. September 22, 2013 - February 2, 2014
- Under the Mexican Sky: Gabriel Figueroa—Art and Film. September 22, 2013 - February 2, 2014
