A Henequén Worker, from "Estampas de Yucatán" (1946)

A man balances himself on powerful legs and bends at the waist to cut and carefully extract fiber from a henequén plant, a species native to the Yucatán Peninsula on the Gulf of Mexico. Historically used for twine, ropes, and sacks, henequén fiber remained a major industry in the region until the middle of the twentieth century, when it was largely supplanted by synthetic fibers. A pioneer of twentieth-century Social Realism, Zalce deployed printmaking to illuminate and honor the lives of indigenous communities. In this print, part of a set dedicated to the people of the Yucatán, the artist rendered figure, plant, soil, and sky in the same crisp, staccato strokes of his lithographic crayon, creating an image of harmony between man and nature. Only the tiny factory in the distance hints at the forces of the modern world.