A Presentation of the Art of the Taller de Gráfica Popular
WORKERS’ VISION OF ART IN THE AMERICAS
This site has been set up for the purpose of providing information about the collection of Art from the Taller de Gráfica Popular, privately held by Virgilio S. Blanco and Joan Barr Blanco . Selected works from the collection were on Exhibit for the first time in the Fall of 2008 at Howard Community College, Columbia, Maryland, USA.
Special thanks to: Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano and to the Artists of Taller de Grafica Popular : Adolfo Mexiac, Elizabeth Catlett, Arturo García Busto and Rina Lazo, Jesús Álvarez Amaya who opened their homes and workshops in the summer of 2007 for their contributions and support to this site and to the Exhibit at Howard Community College in Howard County, Maryland.
About the Taller de Gráfica Popular
by Virgilio S. Blanco
Owner of the Art Collection
(text in Spanish follows below)
The presentation of this art exhibit of the Taller de Arte Gráfica Popular/The Workshop of Popular Graphic Arts, one century after the birth of the Mexican school of art of muralists Orozco, Rivera and Sequeiros, makes available to students of the present-day and to the general public. the works of the young art students and collaborators of the muralists who founded the Workshop of Popular Graphic Arts.
The contribution these young artists made through the didactic expression of their artistic vision and their productivity in the TGP gave new life to Mexican art. This was an essential and necessary complement to the process of making the entire world aware of the struggles of the Mexican people, by making them known and admired through their art, keeping the ideals of the new Mexican society alive.
The Taller de Gráfica Popular or Workshop of Popular Graphic Arts, was founded by Luís Arenal, Leopoldo Méndez, and Pablo O’Higgins in 1937, during the presidential term of General Lázaro Cárdenas del Río when there existed a struggle to restructure political life in Mexico. Working as a collective fraternity, mumerous groups of artists fulfilled this need, a task that otherwise would have been impossible to accomplish.
Immediately after its creation, Ignacio Aguirre, Raúl Anguiano, Ángel Bracho, Everardo Ramírez, Antonio Pujol, Gonzalo de la Paz and Alfredo Zalce joined the Workshop, and put their work at the service of political causes, especially the struggle against fascism.
While experts in art theory insisted that art, in order to be true art, must have itself as the end, the members of the TGP used their art and their combative spirits to fight for popular causes, thus creating what we have come to call ” AN ARTFUL REVOLUTION: WORKER’S VISION OF ART IN THE AMERICAS/VERDADERA REVOLUCIÓN CON EL ARTE: VISIÓN DE LOS TRABAJADORES DEL ARTE EN LAS AMÉRICAS.”
The Workshop found itself in a receptive environment and was able, through its activities, to bring imminent social and workers’ consciousness to fruition. The political propaganda of the Workshop reached levels of mass communication, practically and efficiently. The TGP handed workers, students, and peasants a creation based on the graphic mural, the handbill, that expressed ideas clearly and comprehensively to anyone who would read it, a billboard that would serve as decorative element for the walls of their jacales or thatched-roof huts, their shacks, and their neighborhoods. In this way, the people received the messages of the Mexican muralist movement directly, without having to access public buildings to receive this message from muralists.
The TGP continues to exist today with a maximum of elasticity. For many years it lacked a clear statement of its vision, or statutes. Throughout the years of maximum productivity and high intensity of artistic production, its members remained united through a DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES that established the following:
“The Workshop of Popular Graphic Arts is a center of collective work for the functional production and study of the different branches of engraving and painting. The TGP exerts a constant effort so that its production benefits the progressive and democratic interests of the Mexican people, primarily in its struggle against fascist reaction. Because the end purpose of the plastic or fine arts is inseparable from its high artistic quality, the TGP fights for developing the technical capabilities of its individual members. The TGP will lend its professional cooperation to other workshops or cultural institutions, to workers’ organizations and to all progressive movements and institutions in general. The TGP will defend the interest of the artists, engravings”
Galván and Anguiano
This Declaration of Principles, elaborated in 1945, affirms that the social end of the plastic art/fine arts work is inseparable from its high artistic quality and its fight for developing the aesthetical capability of the individual. It also advocates for the use of Art as a weapon, taking into consideration that almost the totality of the masterpieces that belong to the world’s patrimony today were produced for political and/or religious ends.
With the declaration of the principles as a basis, the capacity of the TGP to reach the most remote corners of Mexico and communicate with the citizenship at large, the artists and the Artistic Movement of Mexico in the Twentieth Century achieved a wide outreach and deep importance. The birth of a modern and democratic Mexico after the Revolution in the decade of the 1930’s occurred at the same time that art at a world level was undergoing exploration and re-evaluation of its aesthetics, as well as its role in society and culture. This historical period provided the artists in Mexico with the ideal conditions and opportunities to interpret global events and redefine the character and culture of Mexico. The engravings, lithographs, screen prints, woodcuts, monochrome relief prints, linocuts, and other techniques that were used by the Mexican artists were relatively inexpensive, enabling quick communication and wide distribution of their vision to society at large. These engravings and their ready use were possible due to the restructuring of political, cultural and artistic life in Mexico during the formative years of the new Mexican society. Because the artists expressed aesthetical values and ideals, the TGP process and movement became an event as opportune as it was necessary.
It was also necessary to show to the rest of the world the role of the engravings and how they influenced Mexican culture and art, from the times of the conquest to the present. The most revered Mexican engraver of the late 1800’s was José Guadalupe Posada, a modern artist (1852- 1913). This engraver, a native of Aguascalientes, experimented and developed the engraving as an effective method of communication with large audiences, and large segments of the population. He developed and distributed handbills so that the public in general would be able to purchase them for just a few cents. These handbills portrayed cartoons that represented everyday events. In his works Posada reaches the expressionist aspect and the formal movement characteristic throughout a great part of the production of contemporary fine arts/plastic arts, and edited visual impressions as a central key to communication with Mexican society.
In the following generation of artists, the efficiency of the use of this media for communication was developed and improved by TGP artists Méndez, O’Higgins and Arenal, who promoted social justice and cultural pride just as Posada had done in the prior generation. In addition, the TGP supported social causes such as the expropriation of oil, agrarian reform, education of the masses and the struggle against Nazism.
This exhibit would also like to recognize the importance of the vision of:
PRESIDENT LÁZARO CÁRDENAS DEL RÍO (1934-1940)
With his support, the creation of art was promoted in the Americas.
Virgilio S. Blanco
________________________________________________________________________
EL TALLER DE GRÁFICA POPULAR
La presentación de esta Exposición de arte del Taller de Gráfica Popular, a un siglo de distancia del nacimiento de la Escuela de Arte Mexicana, de los Muralistas Orozco, Rivera y Sequeiros en los inicios del Siglo XX es para hacer llegar al público y estudiantes en general los trabajos de los jóvenes alumnos, y colaboradores de los muralistas que fundaron el Taller de Gráfica Popular.
Crearon una expresión didáctica de su visión de artistas jóvenes, y su producción Artística en el TGP contribuyese a dar una nueva vida al Arte Mexicano como un complemento esencial y necesario en el proceso de dar a conocer y expandir en el mundo entero, para que a través del arte se conociese y admirase las luchas del pueblo mexicano y que el Taller de Gráfica Popular mantuviese vivos los ideales de la Nueva Sociedad Mexicana.
El Taller de Gráfica Popular fue fundado por Luís Arenal, Leopoldo Méndez, y Pablo O’Higgins en el año de 1937, durante el período presidencial del General Lázaro Cárdenas del Río en una época en la se luchaba por la reestructuración de la vida política de México. Su forma de trabajo artístico fue colectiva y la fraternidad que se formó con sus miembros llenó la necesidad del momento con un numeroso grupo de artistas que llevaron a cabo tareas que en otra forma eso, hubiese sido imposible lograr.
Inmediatamente después de Formación del Taller se adhieren Ignacio Aguirre, Raúl Anguiano, Ángel Bracho, Everardo Ramírez, Antonio Pujol, Gonzalo de la Paz y Alfredo Zalce, todos ellos en el Taller pusieron sus obras al servicio de las causas políticas, especialmente en la lucha antifascista.
Los teóricos insisten en que arte para ser verdaderamente arte, debe tener el fin en si mismo, los miembros del TGP utilizaron su arte y su espíritu combativo para luchar por la causas populares, creando lo que nosotros hemos llegado a considerar una “VERDADERA REVOLUCIÓN CON EL ARTE: VISIÓN DE LOS TRABAJADORES DEL ARTE EN LAS AMÉRICAS. (AN ARTFUL REVOLUTION: WORKER’S VISION OF ART IN THE AMERICAS .)
El Taller se encontró un ambiente receptivo y llevó a cabo actividades de eminente sentido social y obrero. La propaganda política del Taller alcanzó niveles de divulgación masiva, prácticos y eficaces. El TGP entregó a los obreros, los estudiantes, los campesinos, una creación del mural gráfico, una hoja mural volante donde se expresase de una manera clara y comprensible, para cualquier persona que lo leyese, el mensaje de la pintura plasmada en la pared, y que sirviesen como objetos decorativos para los muros de sus jacales, de sus chozas y vecindades. De esta forma el pueblo recibía los mensajes del movimiento muralista mexicano directamente; sin que tuviese que asistir a los edificios públicos a recibir ese mensaje.
El TGP ha funcionado hasta la fecha actual dentro de la máxima elasticidad. Durante muchos años careció de Estatutos. Sus integrantes se mantuvieron unidos, en los años de mayor actividad y de alta intensidad de la producción artística, por una DECLARACION DE PRINCIPIOS que había establecido lo siguiente:
“El Taller de Gráfica Popular es un centro de Trabajo colectivo para la producción funcional y el estudio de la diferentes ramas del grabado y la pintura.-El Taller de Gráfica Popular realiza un esfuerzo constante para que su producción beneficie los intereses progresistas y democráticos del pueblo mexicano, principalmente en su lucha contra la reacción fascista.-Considerando que la finalidad de la obra plástica es inseparable de su buena calidad artística, el TGP lucha por desarrollar sus capacidades técnicas individuales de sus miembros.-El TGP prestará su cooperación profesional a otros talleres o instituciones culturales, a las organizaciones de trabajadores y a todos los movimientos e instituciones progresistas en general.-El TGP defenderá los intereses de los artistas, grabados.”
Galván y Anguiano
Con la declaración de principios como base la y capacidad del TGP para alcanzar los más lejanos rincones de México y comunicarse con la ciudadanía fue un aspecto muy importante para los artistas y el Movimiento Artístico de México en el Siglo XX. El nacimiento del México Moderno y Democrático después de la Revolución en la década de los 30′s, ocurrió durante el mismo tiempo que el arte a nivel mundial estaba atravesando una exploración y re-evaluación de la estética y su papel en la cultura y la sociedad. Este histórico período proveyó a los artistas en México las condiciones ideales y la oportunidad para interpretar los eventos a nivel mundial y re-definir los caracteres y la Cultura Mexicana. Grabados, Litografías, Aguafuertes, Gravados en madera, Monotipia, Cortes en Linóleo, y otras técnicas usados por los artistas mexicanos fueron técnicas relativamente baratas, para comunicarse rápidamente y distribuir ampliamente su visión a la sociedad en general. Estos grabados y su pronta utilización se permitieron debido a la reestructuración de la vida política, cultural y artística de México durante los años formativos de la nueva sociedad mexicana. Los artistas además se hicieron participes de los valores estéticos e ideas, lo cual prácticamente hizo que se convirtiese el TGP, en un acontecimiento tan oportuno, como necesario.
En la siguiente generación de artistas la efectividad del uso de este medio de comunicación fue desarrollada y mejorada por el TGP formado por Méndez, O’Higgins y Arenal promovió justicia social, y orgullo cultural tal como la hiciese Posada en la generación anterior, además el TGP apoyó causas sociales como la expropiación petrolera, la reforma agraria, la educación del pueblo y la lucha contra el Nazismo.
Esta exposición quiere además considerar la importancia de la visión del
PRESIDENTE LÁZARO CÁRDENAS DEL RÍO (1934-1940)
Con su apoyo se promovió la creación del arte en las Américas
Virgilio S. Blanco
_______________________________________________________