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The Critic

Julio Ruelas Mexican
ca. 1905–1907
Not on view
This self-portrait was made shortly before the artist’s death. On his head sits a menacing creature with a top hat and a nose shaped like a fountain pen. The image probably alludes to the power of critics over the reception of artists’ work. Ruelas studied at Mexico City’s Academy of San Carlos, where, from the late nineteenth century, printmaking increasingly reflected aspects of European modernism. During an extended trip to Germany in the 1890s, he encountered the Symbolist works of Max Klinger and Franz von Stuck and found inspiration in the fantastic imagery of Hieronymus Bosch.



Este autorretrato fue creado poco antes del fallecimiento del artista. Sobre su cabeza se sienta una amenazadora criatura con sombrero de copa y una nariz con la forma de una pluma estilográfica. La imagen alude, probablemente, a la influencia de los críticos sobre la recepción de las creaciones de los artistas. Ruelas estudió en la Academia de San Carlos de Ciudad de México, donde, desde finales del siglo xix, fueron ganando terreno en la gráfica algunos aspectos del arte moderno europeo. Durante un largo viaje por Alemania realizado en la década de 1890, descubrió las obras simbolistas de Max Klinger y Franz von Stuck, y halló inspiración en la iconografía fantástica del Bosco.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Critic
  • Artist: Julio Ruelas (Mexican, Zacatecas 1870–1907 Paris)
  • Date: ca. 1905–1907
  • Medium: Etching
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 11 7/16 × 8 11/16 in. (29 × 22 cm)
    Plate: 9 1/8 × 6 3/4 in. (23.2 × 17.1 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1946
  • Object Number: 46.46.597
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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The dragon's stairs
Julio Ruelas
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The Sphinx
Julio Ruelas
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The torture of the Moorish queen
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ca. 1904–1907

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