- Title
- First Lights (Las primeras luces)
- Date Made
- 1947, published 1948
- Medium
- Linocut
- Dimensions
- 16 × 20 in. (40.64 × 50.8 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2003.92.11
- 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.
The film features celebrated movie star María Félix (1914–2002), who plays a maestra rural (rural schoolteacher) sent by the president of the republic to a remote village run by a despotic leader. She begins her first class by teaching her students about Benito Juárez (1806–1872), the first Indigenous president of Mexico. Méndez evokes this lesson by depicting the teacher and two students looking over an image of Juárez. The rays of light emanating from behind them suggest the students’ awakening.
Rachel Kaplan, 2023
- Provenance
Taller de Gráfica Popular, Mexico City, 1948; Dr. Jules Heller (1919–2007), Scottsdale, Arizona; LACMA, 2003.
