Taller de Gráfica Popular (TGP)

This artists’ collective, which was founded in Mexico in 1937, played a key role in popularizing revolutionary social causes and promoting critique of fascism. Using linocuts and woodcuts, the collective produced over 3,000 posters, pamphlets and illustrations. The Ibero-American Institute (IAI) owns approx. 250 of these works (dating from 1937 to 1977). This collection is ongoing.

Catalogue exhibition

Estampas de la Independencia y la Revolución

To mark the 200th anniversary of Mexico’s independence and the 100th anniversary of the Mexican revolution in 2010, the Museo Nacional de la Estampa (MUNAE) del Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA) in Mexico donated 52 works of graphic art to the Ibero-American Institute (IAI). The series consists of commissioned pieces by renowned artists, such as Helen Escobedo, Leonora Carrington, Fernando Aceves Humana and Roberto Turnbull. Using woodcuts, lithographs, etchings and sculpture, the artists explore the topic of freedom.

Link to 2012 exhibition
Catalogue exhibition


Mexican Prints

The political graphic artworks of José Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913) cast a critical eye on the Mexican upper classes and the government of Porfirio Díaz (1830-1915). Among his best-known pieces are the “calaveras”, satirical illustrations featuring skeleton motifs. Posada was viewed as an artist of the people and shunned by academic circles. It was not until he was discovered by Diego Rivera (1886-1957) that he finally found critical acclaim. The Ibero-American Institute’s (IAI) Art prints and Illustrations Archive is home to more than 700 works.

Posada in the Digital Collections IAI