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Adding to the the wiki page Woodcut :

Currently there is not too much on there about the worldwide spread of woodcut - nothing about Latin America where it's a big practice

Draft: Modern woodcut printing in Mexico

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José Guadalupe Posada, Calavera Oaxaqueña, 1910

Woodcut printmaking became a popular form of art in Mexico during the early to mid 20th century.[1] The medium in Mexico was used to convey political unrest and was a form of political activism, especially after the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). In Europe, Russia, and China, woodcut art was being used during this time as well to spread leftist politics such as socialism, communism, and anti-fascism.[2] In Mexico, the art style was made popular by José Guadalupe Posada, who was known as the father of graphic art and printmaking in Mexico and is considered the first Mexican modern artist. [3][4] He was a satirical cartoonist and an engraver before and during the Mexican Revolution and he popularized Mexican folk and indigenous art. He created the woodcut engravings of the iconic skeleton (calaveras) figures that are prominent in Mexican arts and culture today (such as in Disney Pixar's Coco).[5] See La Calavera Catrina for more on Posada's calaveras.

In 1921, Jean Charlot, a French printmaker moved to Mexico City. Recognizing the importance of Posada's woodcut engravings, he started teaching woodcut techniques in Coyoacán's open-air art schools. Many young Mexican artists attended these lessons including the Fernando Leal.[3][6][7]

After the Mexican Revolution, the country was in political and social upheaval - there were worker strikes, protests, and marches. These events needed cheap, mass-produced visual prints to be pasted on walls or handed out during protests.[3] Information needed to be spread quickly and cheaply to the general public.[3] Many people were still illiterate during this time and there was push after the Revolution for widespread education. In 1910 when the Revolution began, on 20% of Mexican people could read.[8] Art was considered to be highly important in this cause and political artists were using journals and newspapers to communicate their ideas through illustration.[4] El Machete (1924-29) was a popular communist journal that utilized woodcut prints.[4] The woodcut art served well because it was a popular style that many could understand.

Artists and activists created collectives such as the Taller de Gráfica Popular (TGP) (1937-present) and The Treintatreintistas (1928-1930) to create prints (many of them woodcut prints) that reflected their socialist and communist values.[9][7] The TGP attracted artists from all around the world including African American printmaker Elizabeth Catlett, whose woodcut prints later influenced the art of social movements in the US in the 1960s and 1970s.[1] The Treintatreintistas even taught workers and children. The tools for woodcut are easily attainable and the techniques were simple to learn. It was considered an art for the people.[7]

Mexico at this time was trying to discover its identity and develop itself as a unified nation. The form and style of woodcut aesthetic allowed a diverse range of topics and visual culture to look unified. Traditional, folk images and avant-garde, modern images, shared a similar aesthetic when it was engraved into wood. An image of the countryside and a traditional farmer appeared similar to the image of a city.[7] This symbolism was beneficial for politicians who wanted a unified nation. The physical actions of carving and printing woodcuts also supported the values many held about manual labour and supporting worker's rights.[7]

Current woodcut practices in Mexico

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Today, in Mexico the activist woodcut tradition is still alive. In Oaxaca, a collective called the Asamblea De Artistas Revolucionarios De Oaxaca (ASARO) was formed during the 2006 Oaxaca protests. They are committed to social change through woodcut art.[10] Their prints are made into wheat-paste posters which are secretly put up around the city.[11] Artermio Rodriguez is another artist who lives in Tacambaro, Michoacán who makes politically charged woodcut prints about contemporary issues.[1]

Reference

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  1. ^ a b c "Gouge: The Modern Woodcut 1870 to Now - Hammer Museum". The Hammer Museum. Retrieved 2019-03-18.
  2. ^ Hung, Chang-Tai (1997). "Two images of Socialism: Woodcuts in Chinese Communist Politics". Comparative Study of Society and History. 39 (1): 34–60. JSTOR 179238.
  3. ^ a b c d McDonald, Mark (2016). "Printmaking in Mexico, 1900-1950". The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  4. ^ a b c Azuela, Alicia (1993). "El Machete and Frente a Frente: Art Committed to Social Justice in Mexico". Art Journal. 52 (1): 82–87. doi:10.2307/777306. ISSN 0004-3249. JSTOR 777306.
  5. ^ Wright, Melissa W. (2017). "Visualizing a country without a future: Posters for Ayotzinapa, Mexico and the struggles against state terror". Geoforum. 102: 235–241. doi:10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.10.009. S2CID 149103719.
  6. ^ Azuela, Alicia (1993). "El Machete and Frente a Frente: Art Committed to Social Justice in Mexico". Art Journal. 52 (1): 82–87. doi:10.2307/777306. ISSN 0004-3249. JSTOR 777306.
  7. ^ a b c d e Montgomery, Harper (December 2011). ""Enter for Free": Exhibiting Woodcuts on a Street Corner in Mexico City". Art Journal. 70 (4): 26–39. doi:10.1080/00043249.2011.10791070. ISSN 0004-3249. S2CID 191506425.
  8. ^ "Mexico: An Emerging Nation's Struggle Toward Education". Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education. 5 (2): 8–10. 1975-09-01. doi:10.1080/03057927509408824. ISSN 0305-7925.
  9. ^ Avila, Theresa (2014-05-04). "El Taller de Gráfica Popular and the Chronicles of Mexican History and Nationalism". Third Text. 28 (3): 311–321. doi:10.1080/09528822.2014.930578. ISSN 0952-8822. S2CID 145728815.
  10. ^ "ASARO—Asamblea de Artistas Revolucionarios de Oaxaca | Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art". jsma.uoregon.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-24.
  11. ^ Graham De La Rosa, Michael; Gilbert, Samuel (March 25, 2017). "Oaxaca's revolutionary street art". Al Jazeera. Retrieved March 23, 2019.



Article Evaluation Exercise

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The wikipedia page El Sombreron is incomplete. It is a page that I clicked on when looking at the printed works of a Mexican writer, Bernardo Ortiz de Montellano. The page however doesn't directly talk about the Montellano's work, but about the legend behind the titular character.

Things to be improved:

  • The "Cultural Influence" section is not cited.
  • Have a section of Cultural Works where Bernardo Ortiz de Montellano's published play is mentioned
  • Have different versions of the legend according to the different countries

Tone: The article is neutral.

Talk page: Describes this wiki page to be part of the WikiProject Guatemala - a project dedicated to improving the coverage of Guatemala. This makes sense then why the article is mostly Guatemalan focused.

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