# Taller de Gráfica Popular

> A Mexico City printmaking collective founded in 1937 around Leopoldo Méndez, Pablo O'Higgins and Luis Arenal to put art at the service of popular and anti-fascist struggles. Heir to Posada's broadsides, it produced cheap linocut, woodcut and lithographic posters, leaflets, portfolios and books: dense black-and-white images of workers, peasants and revolutionary history, often captioned with bold letterpress headlines.

- Period: 1937–1977
- Where: Latin America & Caribbean
- Origin: Mexico City, Mexico
- Branch: Pictorial & machine age
- Also known as: TGP, People's Graphic Workshop
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/taller-grafica-popular/

## How it works

- Cut the image in linoleum or wood and let the gouge marks model form in bold black and white.
- Depict workers, campesinos and historical struggle as solid, monumental figures, and satirise enemies as caricatures or calaveras.
- Print cheaply and in quantity on newsprint or poster paper, adding at most one accent colour such as red.
- Pair the image with a large, direct headline or slogan in condensed letterpress or hand-cut capitals.
- Work collectively, publish as a workshop and keep the image legible to a broad, often barely literate public.

## Its design choices

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

### Layout & composition
- [Dynamic asymmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dynamic-asymmetry/) (characteristic)
- [Diagonal axis](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/diagonal-axis/) (characteristic)
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (occasional)
- [Full bleed](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-bleed/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Horror vacui](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/horror-vacui/) (characteristic)
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (characteristic)
- [Sequential narrative](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/sequential-narrative/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Condensed display](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/condensed-display/) (characteristic)
- [All caps](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-caps/) (characteristic)
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (characteristic)
- [Grotesque & neo-grotesque](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/grotesque-and-neo-grotesque/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (defining)
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (characteristic)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (characteristic)
- [Earth & mineral](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/earth-and-mineral/) (occasional)

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

### 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)
- [Restrained accents](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/restrained-accents/) (occasional)

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

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

### Tone & intent
- [Agitational & persuasive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/agitational-and-persuasive/) (defining)
- [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (defining)
- [Rebellious & subversive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rebellious-and-subversive/) (characteristic)
- [Warm & approachable](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/warm-and-approachable/) (occasional)

Avoids: Luxurious & glamorous, Pastel, Gradients, Gloss & highlights, Straight photography, Non-representational

Palette: #f0e8d6, #151515, #c0392b, #8a6e4b, #d9c39a

Typefaces: Condensed wood-type gothic headlines, Hand-cut linocut lettering, Letterpress grotesque and slab-serif captions

Known for: Leopoldo Méndez; Pablo O'Higgins; Luis Arenal; Elizabeth Catlett; Alberto Beltrán; Mariana Yampolsky; Estampas de la Revolución Mexicana (portfolio, 1947); El libro negro del terror nazi en Europa (1943)

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

- Grew out of: [Mexican Popular Graphics (Posada)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/mexican-popular-graphics.md) (1880–1917)
- Led to: [Chicano Screenprint Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/chicano-poster.md) (1965–present)
- Led to: [Gráfica del 68 (Mexican Student Movement Graphics)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/grafica-68-mexico.md) (1968)
- Led to: [Indonesian Woodcut Activism (Taring Padi)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/taring-padi-woodcut.md) (1998–present)
- Led to: [Oaxacan Protest Printmaking & Street Graphics (ASARO)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/oaxaca-protest-graphics.md) (2006–present)
- Alike in its design choices: [Chinese Modern Woodcut Movement](https://stylogeny.com/styles/chinese-modern-woodcut.md) (1931–1949), 72% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Literatura de Cordel Woodcut](https://stylogeny.com/styles/cordel-woodcut.md) (1940–present), 68% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Expressionist Woodcut Graphics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/expressionist-graphics.md) (1905–1925), 67% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Rorke's Drift Linocut](https://stylogeny.com/styles/rorkes-drift-print.md) (1962–1982), 62% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Filipino Komiks](https://stylogeny.com/styles/filipino-komiks.md) (1929–1999), 61% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Lubok Popular Print](https://stylogeny.com/styles/lubok.md) (1650–1920), 61% alike

## Real works

- [¡Paremos la agresión a la clase obrera! ¡Ayude usted! A los huelguistas de Palau, Nueva Rosita y Cloete](https://dpul.princeton.edu/catalog/r494vk26d): Leopoldo Méndez (Taller de Gráfica Popular), 1950, Princeton University Library, Graphic Arts Collection, Taller de Gráfica prints and posters (GA 2006.00244)
- [Oratorio menor en la muerte de Silvestre Revueltas](https://dpul.princeton.edu/catalog/gh93gz59b): Mariana Yampolsky (Taller de Gráfica Popular), with a poem by Pablo Neruda, 1949, Princeton University Library, Graphic Arts Collection, Taller de Gráfica prints and posters (GA 2006.00283)
- [Corrido de Diego Rivera](https://dpul.princeton.edu/catalog/q524jn85w): Celia Calderón (Taller de Gráfica Popular), 1956, Princeton University Library, Graphic Arts Collection, Taller de Gráfica prints and posters (GA 2006.00232)
- [Vida y drama de México. 20 años de vida del Taller de Gráfica Popular](https://dpul.princeton.edu/catalog/br86b3665): Alberto Beltrán, 1957, Princeton University Library, Graphic Arts Collection, Taller de Gráfica prints and posters (GA 2006.00225)
- [Libertad de expresión (Freedom of Expression)](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O101389/): Adolfo Mexiac, 1968, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (E.1517-2004)

## Sources

- Helga Prignitz-Poda, El Taller de Gráfica Popular en México 1937–1977 (INBA, 1992)
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Leonard A. Lauder Research Center, Modern Art Index Project: 'Taller de Gráfica Popular' (metmuseum.org)
- Philip B. Meggs & Alston W. Purvis, Meggs' History of Graphic Design

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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, “Taller de Gráfica Popular”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/taller-grafica-popular/