Emiliano Zapata: exaltación

Date:  1928

Medium: Woodcut

Dimensions (cm.): Information to be added

Alternate titles: La canalla intelectual

Published edition: Unknown

Contemporary publication: 

References: Information to be added

Selected additional references (illustrated): Gutiérrez Viñuales 2023, 501; Reyes Palma 1994, pl. 10-11

Commentary: The red woodcut illustrations on the front and back covers of the 1928 second edition of Zapata: exaltación portray the class conflicts of the Revolution. The front cover presents a scene from the life of Zapata: the hero, identified by his large sombrero, sarape, bandolier and rifle, defends himself against a hacienda overseer who wears a Spanish beret and holds a cat-o-nine-tails in his hand. The title and author of the book are carved into a banner at the top in simply executed letters. On the back cover, soldiers put down their weapons and replace them with farm implements as they return to the land, and Zapata’s slogan, “La Tierra es para los que la trabajan” (“The Land Belongs to Those Who Work It”), appears on a red streamer behind the three intertwined soldier-farmers. The strokes outline and contour the forms, giving a three-dimensional effect.  Méndez also provided a number of illustrations for the inside of the book, among them a simple woodcut of Zapata riding on a horse. This image appears in Tina Modotti’s 1929 Campesinos reading El machete. In the photograph, a group of men surround the newspaper, which displays Méndez’s Zapata on its front page, directly centered in the photograph. This image within an image constitutes the only readily available evidence that Méndez contributed images to El machete in its first period. (Deborah Caplow)

Cataloging note: Méndez also designed the cover for the 1927 first edition of the book.

Catalogue record number: 572