Concierto de locos [Fools Concert], no. 5 from 25 Prints of Leopoldo Méndez
1932
20th century
24.8 cm x 19.8 cm (9 3/4 in. x 7 13/16 in.)
La Estampa Mexicana
Publisher
Leopoldo Méndez
(Mexico City, 1902 - 1969, Mexico City)
Primary
Object Type:
print
Artist Nationality:
Latin America, Mexican
Medium and Support:
Linocut
Credit Line:
Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Gift of Dr. Alexander and Ivria Sackton, 1986
Accession Number:
1986.361.5/25
Leopoldo Méndez was a social and political activist throughout his career. A young man at the height of the Mexican Revolution, he later joined the Mexican Communist Party. In 1937, he co-founded the Taller de Gráfica Popular [People’s Graphic Workshop], one of the most influential print collectives in the Americas for its commitment to social causes. In "Concierto de locos," Méndez takes a satirical tone as he presents the famous Mexican muralists on either side of God the Father. Diego Rivera in Aztec clothing plays a drum on the left, while David Alfaro Siqueiros strums a sickle-like harp, presumably dripping with blood, on the right.