Broadsheet relating to the American Mosquito with verse critical of American imperialism

José Guadalupe Posada|Antonio Vanegas Arroyo

1903 · Type-metal engraving and letterpress on tan paper · Drawings and Prints

Hundreds of broadsheets addressing current affairs and illustrated by Posada were published by the Vanegas Arroyo workshop. This example has twelve ten-line stanzas covering both sides that relay verbal accounts from different parts of Mexico regarding the damage inflicted by "American pests." The stories seem to relate to US expansionism and intervention in Mexico enabled by Porfirio Díaz’s government. The image shows Mexicans of different ages and classes being attacked by mosquitos that are described in the text as inhuman, tyrannical, and rude. El taller de Vanegas Arroyo publicó cientos de hojas volantes sobre temas de actualidad ilustradas por Posada. Esta lámina reúne en ambas caras doce estrofas de diez versos que recogen testimonios orales procedentes de diferentes zonas de México sobre los daños causados por las «plagas americanas». Las historias parecen tener relación con el expansionismo y la intervención de Estados Unidos que el Gobierno de Porfirio Díaz permitió en México. En la imagen, mexicanos de distintas edades y clases sufren el ataque de unos mosquitos que en el texto se describen como inhumanos, altaneros y groseros.

Artist

José Guadalupe Posada|Antonio Vanegas Arroyo

Date

1903

Medium

Type-metal engraving and letterpress on tan paper

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1946