Portfolio: 'Popol-Vuh' containing ten colour lithographs together with a four-page title and explanatory text in English and Spanish, housed in a stiff orange cover
Carlos Mérida Mexican
Publisher Talleres Gráficos de la Nación, Mexico, D.F.
Not on view
The Popol-Vuh is a sacred Maya text written in the Quiché (K'iche) language that is an account of creation. It was first recorded in the sixteenth century. Each print in the portfolio is accompanied by a thin sheet of paper that contains a translated text from the Popol-Vuh in Spanish and English. Mérida referred to the biomorphic forms seen in these prints as 'free poetic versions of mythological wonders' that he combined with bright colours and abstract elements to reflect the poetic quality of the text. The group was printed and published in Mexico in 1943, and this set is 156 from an edition of 1000.
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