Taller-Escuela de Artes Plásticas

(Attribution to Méndez is uncertain) 

Date: 1935

Medium: Block print (printed as a poster)

Dimensions (cm.): Information to be added

Alternate titles: Inscríbase

Published edition: Unknown

Contemporary publication: This poster, published by the LEAR

References: Information to be added

Selected additional references (illustrated): Lear 2017, 188; Prignitz 2018; Reyes Palma 1994, pl. 49

Commentary: Méndez made the poster for the opening of the workshop/school, Taller-Escuela de Artes Plásticas (TEAP) of LEAR. Inscríbase (Sign Up), invites workers to enroll in the new school. In a different style from anything by Méndez to this time, the woodblock print depicts four workers in overalls marching together behind a large red arrow. Their youthful-looking faces are slightly individualized, with eyes of different shapes looking in the same direction, and their bodies overlap in a rhythmic pattern. Méndez’s emphasis on the eyes and hands of the workers underscores the importance of vision and action, and the use of the arrow and the geometric depictions of the human figure are reminiscent of Russian Constructivist images. The work fulfills LEAR’s aims of directing art to the proletariat, while directing the proletariat to art. (Deborah Caplow)

Cataloging note: Prignitz 2018 attributes this poster alternatively to Méndez or Julio Prieto.

Catalogue record number: 439