About the Catalogue Raisonné
This catalogue raisonné is in development. When finished, it will present a complete list of the prints of Leopoldo Méndez, Mexico’s greatest twentieth century printmaker. Méndez made over 700 prints over his lifetime as well as numerous non-print illustrations and artworks. The catalogue now includes almost all of his known published output but the information in many of the entries remains incomplete. Information is being added and updated continuously, so please check back regularly. A list of “missing” works (documented titles that the editors have not matched to an image) is provided; we welcome information about them. Although the text is currently written primarily in English, we are gradually adding Spanish-language commentaries and we hope eventually to publish the entire site in both English and Spanish.
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The editors are Peter Schneider and Deborah Caplow.
Peter Schneider is a legal aid lawyer, print collector, and independent scholar of Mexican art. As a collector, he—together with his wife Susan DeJarnatt—has one of the premier collections of modern Mexican prints in the United States, including over 100 works by Leopoldo Méndez. As a scholar, he has assisted with research for exhibitions at major museums in Mexico City, London, and Philadelphia, among others. His deep interest in Mexican art was kindled during his time as a student at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in the 1970s.
Deborah Caplow is an expert on Mexican art, with an M.A. and Ph.D. in art history from the University of Washington. She has written a book about Leopoldo Méndez, Leopoldo Méndez: Revolutionary Art and the Mexican Print (University of Texas Press), as well as numerous articles on the subject of Mexican printmaking. She is currently researching the graphic art of Oaxaca and curated the exhibitions Arte Gráfico Contemporáneo en Oaxaca and Maestros Oaxaqueños, which took place in Oaxaca and Mexico City in 2018 and 2019, and Leopoldo Méndez Presente: El Artista en Su Entorno, in Oaxaca in 2022. She has traveled widely in Mexico and loves Mexican art of all places and times.
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A few notes about the entries:
Very few of Méndez’s prints were issued in standard published editions. Very few prints bear edition numbers. Impressions are sometimes signed, often not. Titles frequently vary and can only occasionally be found in Méndez’s hand. A given image typically can be found printed on a variety of sizes and types of paper ranging from newsprint (“papel revolución”) to high quality artist’s paper. For that reason, we generally avoid describing the sheet size or type of paper on which the prints appear. We make exception in the few cases where a standard edition was published. In those cases, details are provided in the “Published edition” section of the entry. Even so, additional impressions with different characteristics were often printed outside the edition. Méndez noted the estimated number of impressions of some of his prints in Mendez [1949?] and we generally include that information where available.
Many images were originally intended as illustrations for books, periodicals, posters, handbills or broadsides (“volantes”), or other ephemeral publications, sometimes printed directly from the original matrix and sometimes reproduced photomechanically. Where known, those publications are named in the “Contemporary publication” section of each entry. But most of those images were also printed, contemporaneously or at a later time, on loose sheets as conscious works of art.
Dates are generally based either on the dates annotated on impressions in Méndez’s hand, dates given by Méndez in Mendez [1949?], or publication dates of books, periodicals, or other publications in which images were used. In some cases, we have relied on secondary sources. Where there is a conjectural date but we have been unable to determine its accuracy with reasonable certainty, we add a question mark. We sometimes include several possible dates or give a “circa” date based on available information. Where a date is given “by” a year, the work has been documented to exist as of that year but the date of creation remains unknown. We continue to research missing or uncertain dates. Prints with unknown dates are placed in the sections of the catalogue where we believe they most likely belong.
Image dimensions describe the maximum extent of the printed area, except for intaglio prints, for which the dimensions are measured to the platemarks. Except where noted otherwise, all dimensions are given in centimeters. Height precedes width. In many cases, the dimensions of different impressions of the same image vary by several millimeters. We select the measurements of a single impression as an exemplar. In some cases, the disparity is greater and suggests the possibility that an impression may have been photomechanically reproduced.
Alternate titles were sometimes assigned by Méndez himself and sometimes by the Taller de Gráfica Popular, exhibiting or collecting institutions, or publications where the images appeared. We try to include all Spanish-language titles by which a given work is known, whatever the source. We generally omit English titles or translations.
It can be difficult to distinguish specific block print media (e.g. woodcuts, wood engravings, linocuts, or blocks produced from scratchboard engravings). Méndez used all of these. Published references often differ, as do annotations on different impressions of the same image. We rely primarily on Mendez [1949?], annotations on impressions, and the visual appearance of the impressions.
Some works are described as “scratch” or “scratchboard” in Méndez [1949?] or on INBA inventory labels affixed to impressions of the works. The process, which involves scratching through the inked surface of a specially coated paper to reveal a white layer below, mimics the appearance of a wood engraving or linocut. Because this process creates a unique work, not a multiple, the printing of a scratchboard engraving requires the transfer of the image to a printing matrix by a photomechanical process. Although the precise means by which Méndez’s scratchboard engravings were printed is not known, they are cataloged here as “prints.”
Posters (“carteles”) and handbills or broadsides (“volantes”), where the images they contain are derived from prints, are included in the “prints” section of the catalogue even though in many cases they were produced photomechanically. Where the images also exist as independent prints without text, they are generally given separate entries. The catalogue generally includes entries for posters or broadsides only if the images they contain were originally created to be used in them; posters that employ previously created images are generally not given their own entries although they are sometimes illustrated in the entries for the related images.
Where we believe a work is likely by Méndez but we cannot make a conclusive attribution, we so indicate. We omit works attributed elsewhere to Méndez if we believe he is not actually the author. We don’t claim omniscience, however, and our opinion should not be relied on as definitive.
Catalogue reference numbers are placeholders. They will be replaced with chronologically-based catalogue numbers when the catalogue is complete.
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About the website: The website allows for word searches. Unfortunately, it is not possible to move directly from one entry to the next or to to zoom in and out of the images. These and other site navigation issues are due to the limitations of the platform we are using. They will be addressed when we are able to move the site to a platform with greater functionality.
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We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of many individuals and institutions, including in Mexico City, Louise Noelle and Renato González Mello at the Academia de Artes; Henoc de Santiago Dulché, Evelio Álvarez Sanabria, Rubén Pompa Tovar, Fabián Nava, and Ana Catalina Valenzuela González at the Museo del Estanquillo, Héctor Palhares Meza, María de los Ángeles Cortés Arellano, and David Eduardo Caliz Manjarrez at the Museo Nacional de Arte (MUNAL); Emilio Payán Stoupignan, Gabriela Gutiérrez López, María Eugenia Murrieta, María de los Ángeles Castillo Bermúdez, Ana Carolina Abad, Natanael Cardoso Guerrero, and Rafael Martínez Vázquez at the Museo Nacional de la Estampa (MUNAE); Carlos Dávila and Luis de la Peña at the Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia (ENAH); and Patricia Brambila and Jacqueline Romero at the Centro Nacional de Investigación, Documentación e Información de Artes Plásticas (Cenidiap); Hazam Jára Chavez and Ariel M. García Miranda at the Instituto de Artes Gráficos de Oaxaca (IAGO); Daniel Brena at the Centro de las Artes de San Agustín (CASA) in San Agustín Etla, Oaxaca; Mark McDonald at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; Louis Marchesano and the late John Ittmann at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and in no special order, Dafne Cruz Porchini, Luis Garzón, Bárbara Huerta Velázquez, Ariel Zúñiga, Michael T. Ricker, Jun Nakamura, Viridiana Zavala Rivera, Alejandro Rodríguez George, Susan DeJarnatt, Carl Strehlke, Alec Dempster, John Lear, and Helga Prignitz-Poda. No doubt we have left out many others who have helped us; please forgive the omissions.
We are thankful, above all, to Pablo Méndez Hernández (1939-2023) for his encouragement of this project and for giving us permission to include photos of his father’s works. We miss him and wish he could have seen this catalogue in its present state and on to its eventual completion. We dedicate this project to his memory.
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Text is copyright © 2023-2025 the editors. Images of works by Leopoldo Méndez are copyright © the Estate of Leopoldo Méndez and used by permission of Pablo Méndez Hernández. Not to be copied or reproduced without permission of the copyright holder.
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We welcome questions, comments, corrections, and suggestions on how to improve the catalogue. You can contact us at info@leopoldomendez.com.
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