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Abstract composition with a head and bird-like form, from the portfolio 'Motivos'

1936
Not on view
Mérida was part of the Mexican muralist movement in the 1920s and one of the first artists to fuse European modernism with Latin American themes. This print (from a portfolio of three) is directly inspired by aphorisms in The Prince (1532), a political treatise written by the Italian author Niccolò Machiavelli for the education of new princes. Mérida’s prints imaginatively blend abstract and figurative elements in dreamlike compositions that reveal the artist’s long-standing interest in Surrealism.







Mérida formó parte del movimiento mexicano de muralistas en la década de 1920 y fue uno de los primeros artistas que fusionaron el arte moderno europeo con temas latinoamericanos. Este grabado, incluidos en un porfolio de tres, están inspirados en aforismos de El príncipe (1532), un tratado político escrito por el autor italiano Nicolás Maquiavelo para la educación de los nuevos príncipes. En los grabados, Mérida combina imaginativamente elementos abstractos y figurativos en composiciones oníricas que revelan su dilatado interés por el surrealismo.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Abstract composition with a head and bird-like form, from the portfolio 'Motivos'
  • Series/Portfolio: Motivos
  • Artist: Carlos Mérida (Guatemalan, Guatemala City 1891–1984 Mexico City)
  • Publisher: Ediciones Arte Mexicano (EAM), Mexico City
  • Date: 1936
  • Medium: Colour woodcut in red
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 8 15/16 × 6 5/16 in. (22.7 × 16 cm)
    Image: 8 1/8 × 5 9/16 in. (20.7 × 14.2 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gift of Jean Charlot, 1938
  • Object Number: 38.72.7
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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Trajes Regionales Mexicanos (Regional Mexican Dress), Carlos Mérida Mexican, Silkscreen
Trajes Regionales Mexicanos (Regional Mexican Dress)
Multiple artists/makers
1945
An Otomi woman from the state of Puebla, plate 17 from "Trajes Regionales Mexicanos" (Regional Mexican Dress), Carlos Mérida Mexican, Silkscreen
An Otomi woman from the state of Puebla, plate 17 from "Trajes Regionales Mexicanos" (Regional Mexican Dress)
Carlos Mérida
Editorial Atlante
1945
Two Otomi women from the state of Mexico, plate 10 from "Trajes Regionales Mexicanos" (Regional Mexican Dress), Carlos Mérida Mexican, Color silkscreen
Two Otomi women from the state of Mexico, plate 10 from "Trajes Regionales Mexicanos" (Regional Mexican Dress)
Carlos Mérida
Editorial Atlante
1945
A fisherman from Pátzcuaro in the state of Michoacán, plate 12 from "Trajes Regionales Mexicanos" (Regional Mexican Dress), Carlos Mérida Mexican, Silkscreen
A fisherman from Pátzcuaro in the state of Michoacán, plate 12 from "Trajes Regionales Mexicanos" (Regional Mexican Dress)
Carlos Mérida
Editorial Atlante
1945
A young Creole woman from the state of Guerrero, plate 8 from "Trajes Regionales Mexicanos" (Regional Mexican Dress), Carlos Mérida Mexican, Silkscreen
A young Creole woman from the state of Guerrero, plate 8 from "Trajes Regionales Mexicanos" (Regional Mexican Dress)
Carlos Mérida
Editorial Atlante
1945

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