Arte puro
Date: 1931
Medium: Linocut
Dimensions (cm.): Information to be added
Variants:
As published in Llamada.
Some impressions lack the text LUCHA DE CLASES in the flag and L.I.P. in the figure at upper right (see Reyes Palma 1994, pl. 33).
At least one impression exists showing little more than the top-hatted figure at left.
Alternate titles: Lucha de clases; Los dos campos
Published edition: Unknown. Méndez [1949?] gives number of impressions as 2,000 approx. (probably referring to publication in Llamada).
Contemporary publication: Llamada (Periódico de Pared, Órgano de Lucha Intelectual Proletaria) 1 (octubre 1931)
References: Méndez INBA 102
Commentary: In 1931, Méndez, O’Higgins, Siqueiros, Luis Arenal, and Juan de la Cabada, all of whom were members of the Communist Party of Mexico, started the Lucha Intelectual Proletaria (the Intellectual Proletarian Struggle, LIP). From this time on, Méndez took an active role in the organizations he founded, such as LEAR and the TGP. LIP was short-lived, in existence only long enough to produce one issue of a large-format wall newspaper, Llamada (Cry). Méndez created his 1931 woodcut Arte Puro (Pure Art) for the publication.
He portrayed an over-sized figure in a top hat, with a dollar/peso sign on his tail coat, clearly intended to as a caricature of a capitalist businessman. He directs two men with rifles pointed against the workers. The mask-like face of the capitalist is reminiscent of caricatures by German artist George Grosz, with a facial type that Grosz developed as a personal convention and used in many of his characterizations of vicious Germans, and Méndez likely saw this kind of work by Grosz. In the Méndez print a young man in a suit with a rifle on his shoulder, wearing stylish urban shoes, is labeled “arte puro.” The image is clearly an attack on “art for art’s sake” in line with the stand taken by the political artists of Mexico at this time. Barely visible behind, another more loutish man, with a gun and a flag and the word “demagogia” on his rifle, is meant to depict strongman and ex-president Plutarco Elías Calles. Two workers, also holding rifles, fight back; one has the word “trabajadores” (“workers”) written on the leg of his trousers and the other the letters LIP. The print is an ideological statement painted with very broad strokes, in keeping with the radicalism of LIP, which supported the efforts of the illegal Communist Party. (Deborah Caplow)
Selected additional references (illustrated): Caplow 2017, 84; Lear 2017, 172; Reyes Palma 1994, pl. 33
Catalogue record number: 408