Chiclero
Date: 1937
Medium: Woodcut
Dimensions (cm.): 17.5 x 12.5
Alternate titles: Chicleros; Tierra de chicle
Published edition:
Number of impressions unknown.
Reprinted in 1943 in portfolio 25 Prints of Leopoldo Méndez: 100 impressions in numbered portfolios, 50 of them on China paper (described as “special imported chinese stock”), plus 3 impressions in unnumbered portfolios. Each impression signed in graphite, lower right, and annotated 15, lower right corner of sheet. Sheet dimensions 24.41 x 9.2 cm.
Contemporary publication: Ramón Beteta, 1937 Tierra del chicle (Mexico City: DAPP), cover (image reproduced at 10.6 x 14.7 cm.).
References: Exposición de Homenaje 399; Méndez INBA 91
Selected additional references (illustrated): Buchloh and Harewood 2022, 331; Caplow 2017, 139; Reyes Palma 1994, pl. 58
Commentary: Méndez created this image for the cover of the 1937 Tierra del chicle (Land of Chicle), by Ramón Beteta; the book concerns agricultural conditions among the chicle workers in the southern state of Quintana Roo. The artist used a surreal composition to express an emotional response to oppression, as an enormous head with staring eyes grows out of a twisted chicozapote tree, and an overseer strikes a defenseless figure to the left. Méndez’s print was a dramatic response that accompanied an objective account. (Deborah Caplow)
Comentario: Méndez creó esta imagen para la portada del libro Tierra del chicle, de Ramón Beteta, en 1937; el libro trata de las condiciones agrícolas de los trabajadores del chicle en el sureño estado de Quintana Roo. El artista utilizó una composición surrealista para expresar una reacción emocional a la opresión, ya que de un retorcido árbol de chicozapote crece una enorme cabeza con ojos fijos, y un capataz golpea a una figura indefensa a la izquierda. El grabado de Méndez era una respuesta dramática que acompañaba a un relato objetivo.
Catalogue record number: 49