# Mexican Popular Graphics (Posada)

> Cheap broadsheets, chapbooks and gazettes sold on the streets of Porfirian Mexico City by the publisher Antonio Vanegas Arroyo and illustrated by Manuel Manilla and José Guadalupe Posada. A bold relief picture of crime, disaster, miracle or satire sits under shouting display type and columns of corridos, printed in black on brightly coloured cheap paper, while the calavera skeleton lampoons every class.

- Period: 1880–1917
- Where: Latin America & Caribbean
- Origin: Mexico City (Imprenta de Antonio Vanegas Arroyo)
- Branch: Traditions & vernacular
- Also known as: Hojas volantes, Calaveras, Vanegas Arroyo broadsheets
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/mexican-popular-graphics/

## How it works

- Pair one bold relief-cut picture with a shouting headline in mixed display types above columns of verse or news.
- Cut images in heavy black line with white-line hatching and strong silhouettes so they survive cheap printing.
- Print black on cheap, brightly coloured paper (magenta, green, yellow) instead of white.
- Turn everyone, from politicians to street vendors, into calaveras and deliver the satire through laughter at death.
- Reuse and recombine stock cuts across sheets as the news demands.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (characteristic)
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (characteristic)
- [Column grid](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/column-grid/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Extreme scale contrast](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/extreme-scale-contrast/) (characteristic)
- [Layered information](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/layered-information/) (characteristic)
- [Horror vacui](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/horror-vacui/) (characteristic)
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Eclectic mixing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/eclectic-mixing/) (characteristic)
- [Ornamented display](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/ornamented-display/) (characteristic)
- [All caps](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-caps/) (characteristic)
- [Slab serif](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/slab-serif/) (occasional)
- [Condensed display](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/condensed-display/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (defining)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (characteristic)
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (defining)
- [Distortion & exaggeration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/distortion-and-exaggeration/) (defining)
- [Naturalistic depiction](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/naturalistic-depiction/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Carved line](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/carved-line/) (defining)
- [Paper & letterpress bite](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/paper-and-letterpress-bite/) (characteristic)

### Ornament
- [Folk & sacred symbols](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/folk-and-sacred-symbols/) (characteristic)
- [Borders & frames](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/borders-and-frames/) (characteristic)
- [Floral & vegetal](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/floral-and-vegetal/) (occasional)

### Imagery
- [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (defining)
- [Comic & cartoon](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/comic-and-cartoon/) (characteristic)
- [Found & vernacular imagery](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/found-and-vernacular-imagery/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Letterpress](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/letterpress/) (defining)
- [Woodblock & linocut](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/woodblock-and-linocut/) (characteristic)
- [Lithography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/lithography/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (defining)
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (characteristic)
- [Agitational & persuasive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/agitational-and-persuasive/) (characteristic)
- [Rebellious & subversive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rebellious-and-subversive/) (occasional)
- [Spiritual & sacred](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/spiritual-and-sacred/) (occasional)

Avoids: Generous white space, Dynamic asymmetry, Non-representational, Straight photography, Gloss & highlights, Ornament-free

Palette: #151515, #d6337f, #5aa05a, #f0d14a, #efe6cf

Typefaces: Nineteenth-century display types: Egyptians, Tuscans and Latins, Modern (Didone) roman for corridos and verse, Hand-cut lettering engraved into the relief block

Known for: José Guadalupe Posada (1852–1913); Manuel Manilla (engraver for the Vanegas Arroyo press); Imprenta de Antonio Vanegas Arroyo (founded 1880; run by Vanegas Arroyo until his death in 1917, then by his family); La Calavera Garbancera (La Catrina), c. 1910–13; Gaceta Callejera broadsheets (1890s)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Influenced by: [Victorian Letterpress & Wood Type](https://stylogeny.com/styles/victorian-letterpress.md) (1810–1900)
- Led to: [Taller de Gráfica Popular](https://stylogeny.com/styles/taller-grafica-popular.md) (1937–1977)
- Alike in its design choices: [Lira Popular (Chilean Illustrated Verse Broadsheets)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/lira-popular.md) (1866–1930), 80% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Lubok Popular Print](https://stylogeny.com/styles/lubok.md) (1650–1920), 70% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Literatura de Cordel Woodcut](https://stylogeny.com/styles/cordel-woodcut.md) (1940–present), 67% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Emblem Book (Motto, Picture & Epigram)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/emblem-book.md) (1531–1724), 66% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Rorke's Drift Linocut](https://stylogeny.com/styles/rorkes-drift-print.md) (1962–1982), 65% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Indonesian Woodcut Activism (Taring Padi)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/taring-padi-woodcut.md) (1998–present), 64% alike

## Real works

- [The horrific skeleton of the flood of Guanajuato (La horrorosa calavera de la inundación de Guanajuato)](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/729590): José Guadalupe Posada, 1905, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- [The skeleton of the people's editor (Antonio Vanegas Arroyo)](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/656906): José Guadalupe Posada, 1902, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- [Broadsheet relating to the skeleton from Guadalajara (Calavera tapatía)](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/717519): Manuel Manilla, ca. 1890, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- [Cover of the 'Gaceta Callejera' reporting on the continuation of anti-reelection riots](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/387234): José Guadalupe Posada, 1892, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

## Sources

- Patrick Frank, Posada's Broadsheets: Mexican Popular Imagery, 1890–1910 (University of New Mexico Press, 1998)
- https://exhibits.lib.berkeley.edu/spotlight/art-of-posada
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Calavera_Catrina

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Mexican Popular Graphics (Posada)”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/mexican-popular-graphics/