- Title
- Birth of the Confederation of Latin American Workers (Nacimiento de la Confederación de Trabajadores de América Latina)
- Date Made
- 1948
- Medium
- Linocut
- Dimensions
- 13 1/8 × 16 in. (33.34 × 40.64 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2003.92.47
- Collecting Area
- Latin American Art
- Curatorial Notes
Ángel Bracho made this linocut for a collective portfolio of ten prints created by artists of the Taller de Gráfica Popular (TGP; People’s Print Workshop) in honor of the tenth anniversary of the Confederación de Trabajadores de América Latina (CTAL; Confederation of Latin American Workers). Founded shortly after the TGP in 1938 by Mexican labor leader Vicente Lombardo Toledano (1894–1968), CTAL expanded the Mexican fight for workersʼ rights across Latin America and initiated partnerships with trade unions throughout the Americas. The TGP presented the portfolio during CTAL’s third general congress and hosted a reception for the international delegates. Here Bracho depicts the confederation’s founding as a group of laborers unites behind a standard-bearer carrying a flag that reads “CTAL.” The workers move forward towards the light and against oppressive forces, represented in the composition by a broken swastika and chain.
Rachel Kaplan, 2023
- Provenance
Taller de Gráfica Popular, Mexico City, 1948; Dr. Jules Heller (1919–2007), Scottsdale, Arizona; LACMA, 2003.
