Workshop of Popular Graphics

(Taller de Grafica Popular), an association of Mexican graphic artists, mainly engravers on linoleum. The association was founded in Mexico in 1937 by L. Mendez, P. O’Higgins, and L. Arenal, with the support of D. Siqueiros. Its membership included A. Beltran, A. Garcia Bustos, A. Zalce, R. Anguiano, I. Aguirre, A. Bracho, A. Mexiac, and A. Goméz.

The Workshop of Popular Graphics arose as an association of national democratic realistic artists who were involved in the social struggle in Mexico. The work of the association’s members, a number of whom were influenced by European political graphic art of the second half of the 19th century and early part of the 20th, draws on folk motifs, is highly emotional and expressive, and has many ties with the style of Mexican monumentalists. The association issued several series of antifascist posters and also albums of engravings and lithographs devoted to the history of Mexico and its modern life and to the struggle of peoples for peace and liberty. Among the association’s albums are Franco’s Spain (1938), Black Book of Nazi Terror in Europe(1943-44), Images of the Mexican Revolution (1947), and The Constitution of 1857 (1957). In 1953, the workshop was awarded the International Peace Prize. The association was disbanded in the 1960’s.