A poster showing a seated Mexican blowing a trumpet with a human head representing the falsity of the press (fake news) with the title 'The laughter of the public—away with your nonsense'

Taller de Gráfica Popular|José Chávez Morado

1939 · Lithograph on orange paper · Drawings and Prints

This is a satire on the Mexican press. A small man with a moustache labelled ‘gachupines’ sits on the ground blowing the mouthpiece of a horn. ‘Gachupín’, a word with negative connotations, is used in Mexico to describe foreign immigrants, especially Spaniards living in Mexico. He blows a horn labelled ‘prensa libre’ (‘free press’), yet the rhyme in the bottom left-hand corner of the print suggests that the press was anything but free. Since it is the gachupines who blow into the horn, it is implied that they control the content of the so-called free press. The titles of various Mexican daily newspapers, all of them pro-Franco, are inscribed on the neck of the pipe. The head acting as the trumpet represents the editor Miguel Ordorica, whose name is emblazoned across his forehead. He wears a swastika earring to demonstrate his support for Fascism. Spitting from his mouth are the words ‘provocación’ (‘provocation’), ‘calumnia’ (‘slander’), ‘insultos’ (‘insults’), ‘mentiras’ (‘lies’).

Artist

Taller de Gráfica Popular|José Chávez Morado

Date

1939

Medium

Lithograph on orange paper

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1946