The Skeleton of the Buses

Description

A number of 20th-century Mexican artists admired José Guadalupe Posada for reaching a broad public through striking imagery and inexpensively printed works. Posada combined image and text in his depictions of social and political issues so that they were accessible to workers, many of whom were illiterate. This print is part of a series in which he used skeletons to humorously comment on current events, such as the danger of electric trams in Mexico City. A streetcar delivers passengers to the figure of Death, who beckons them forward, suggesting that the graveyard where he stands is an inevitable stop on their journey.

Provenance

(Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH) (?-2000); Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (2000-)

The Skeleton of the Buses

José Guadalupe Posada

c. 1900–10

Accession Number

2000.97

Medium

relief etching and letterpress

Dimensions

Sheet: 39.4 x 29.3 cm (15 1/2 x 11 9/16 in.)

Classification

Print

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Gift from funds of various donors to the Department of Prints and Drawings