Saturday 30 October 2010

Jose Guadalupe Posada: Famed Artist Gets a New Museum


Swinging open the museum doors, the visitor was in for a shock. Inside the spacious building, gutted walls, protruding wires and a dug-up floor were seemingly all that remained of the Posada Museum in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

Springing from the back, a friendly Guillermo Saucedo Ruiz, the museum's director, quickly set the record straight: the "home" of iconic Mexican artist Jose Guadalupe Posada was getting a makeover.

Guiding the reporter through rooms of hammering workmen and rising dust, Saucedo outlined the renovation that is planned to be ready for the opening of Aguascalientes' annual San Marcos Fair later this month.

Carrying an estimated price tag of $1.2 million, the new Posada museum will feature a research center, library, cafe, Internet connections and graphics classes once it is completed.

Supported by state and federal funds, the 1,000 square meter facility will exhibit 200 original Posada works including La Catrina and El Quijote, Saucedo said, adding that Posada's new home will open as part of the national celebrations for the twin anniversaries of the 1810 War of Independence and 1910 Mexican Revolution.

"Posada is known as the father of popular graphics, not only in Mexico but at the Latin American level," he said. Dubbing Posada the "graphic chronicler" of his times, Saucedo described how the prolific artist depicted the legendary political leaders of the strife-torn years of the early 20th century—Madero, Zapata, Villa, and others.

The Posada collection on hand in Aguascalientes will also include surrealistic pictures, crime scene drawings and comical works like the old cartoon character Chepito Marihuano.
Read more at Banderas News

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