MEXICO/ MACABRE!

J. G. Posada (1852-1913) and Manuel Manilla (1830-1895) produced hundreds of prints (Calaveras) for the Day of the Dead. Traditional ly these were humorous epitaphs written for friends or celebrities while still alive to be sold during the festival along with skele tal artefacts, toys and sweets. But these great Mexican printmakers, so admired by Diego Rivera, Sergei Eisenstein and the Surrealis ts used these popular prints to expose hypocrisy and reveal the ultimate absurdity of the human condition.