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Political Piñata

1935
Not on view
A piñata is a large, hollow ornament normally filled with sweets or fruit and broken during parties and celebrations. In this print, a worker uses a baton to break a piñata representing President Plutarco Elías Calles and the party he established in December 1935 to regain political power. His corrupt cronies tumble below, and at right a group of supporters cheers on the worker. The inscription on his baton, "Feliz Año 1936," implies hope for the imminent defeat of Calles and a new beginning. Méndez was one the most politically minded artists of his generation.



Una piñata es un ornamento grande y hueco que se suele llenar de golosinas o frutas y se rompe durante las fiestas y las celebraciones. En este grabado, un obrero usa un garrote para romper una piñata que representa al presidente Plutarco Elías Calles y al partido que fundó en diciembre de 1935 en un intento de recuperar poder político. Sus compinches corruptos van cayendo y, a la derecha, un grupo de simpatizantes jalea al obrero. La inscripción visible en el garrote, «Feliz año 1936», insinúa la esperanza de una inminente derrota de Calles y un nuevo comienzo. Méndez fue uno de los artistas más politizados de su generación.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Political Piñata
  • Artist: Leopoldo Méndez (Mexican, 1902–1969)
  • Date: 1935
  • Medium: Wood engraving
  • Dimensions: sheet: 18 3/8 x 13 1/4 in. (46.7 x 33.7 cm)
    image: 11 3/8 x 8 1/2 in. (28.9 x 21.6 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gift of Jean Charlot, 1939
  • Object Number: 39.16.23
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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'Anthropos', a single part of a periodical published for the months April to June 1947 in Mexico City, consisting of an illustrated front cover and text illustrated with numerous woodcuts, and an original linocut 'Mitin' tipped in between pp.16-17, all by Leopoldo Méndez
Leopoldo Méndez
1947
The Protest; a gigantic man standing with his left fist clenched, from "Agua y Cuace"
Leopoldo Méndez
1937
Illustration for a ballad (corrido): two Mexican men, one holding a sword, the other a hammer, that they are about to strike groups of fascists on either side
Leopoldo Méndez
1937
Cranes collecting skeletons and depositing them in a pit, from "El Machete"
Leopoldo Méndez
1935
Head of a man who grows out of a Chicle tree, from "Tierra del Chicle"
Leopoldo Méndez
1937

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