As I mentioned in the last post, last Saturday Alejandro and I went to the borough of Coyoacán. I had a specific destination in mind... yet another one of Mexico City's many museums, the "Museo Salón Posada". It is dedicated to the works of José Guadalupe Posada, a late 19th and early 20th century printer and illustrator who had a profound influence on later Mexican artists.
I knew nothing about this museum until I saw an advertisement for it outside of a bookstore not far from the apartment. I had a hard time finding it on Google Maps, but when I did, the very few reviews that had been written gave it positive ratings. So, Alejandro and I decided to check it out. We found the museum in the historic center of Coyoacán, just a few blocks south of the district's main plaza. It's hard to miss.
The front of the building is a bookstore selling used books.
You buy your ticket for the museum at the register, and head to the back of the building.
Alejandro posing at the entrance to the museum galleries.
A photo of Posada in front of his print shop
Posada (1852 - 1913) began his career as a political cartoonist and illustrator for newspapers in the city of León. In 1888 he moved to Mexico City and eventually set up his own print shop. It is thought that during his lifetime, Posada did more than 20,000 illustrations. However, most of his work is lost due to the cheap quality of the paper used in tabloids, pamphlets and broadsides. This museum has gathered and preserved a large number of his prints and displayed them in several galleries. I thought perhaps that this might be one of those little museums that you can breeze through in less than a half hour. We spent more than two hours here, and were very happy that we had found this gem of a museum. Besides being a compilation of Posada's art, it is a window to another era.
Posada created illustrations for all sorts of booklets and pamphlets.
A veterinary collection of cures for domestic animals
Booklets with collections of songs
Magic tricks for children
Booklets of riddles ("adivinanzas")
A collection of invitations (perhaps a guide to writing correct formal invitations?)
The covers of children's stories
Illustrations for children's books
He even did drawings for label of products such as this bottle of sherry.
More to come from the Posada Museum, including the drawing for which he is most famous.
Coyacan is a beautiful area of Mexico City.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is lovely, although it has become very touristy. The whole central area is jammed with visitors on the weekends.
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