Monografia: Jose Guadalupe Posada

Published in 1930, the Posada Monografia was the first major publication devoted to Posada's work. The publisher was Francis Toor of Mexican Folkways and it was really a collaboration of many artists of the time.
    In addition to Francis Toor, Paul O'Higgins (aka Pablo Esteban O'Higgins, b. 03/01/1904 - d. 07/16/1983) pulled prints from the original plates that were at the Vanegas Arroyo Publishing house. Blas and his son Arsacio were running the printing house in those days. Diego Rivera wrote a short forward for the publication and Jean Charlot was also involved. This publication helped bring Posada's name into the spotlight and in many ways could be considered the defining work that allowed many people to see for the first time who the artist was that created so many of the images that had appeared in dozens of publications in Mexico from about 1872 and even after Posada's death in 1913.

Mexican Folkways, Frances Toor, Anita Brenner and Jose Guadalupe Posada

Pictured here is the front cover of Mexican Folkways which was a Mexico City based magazine published from 1925-1937. The magazine was bi-lingual in Spanish and English. Its founder/publisher was Frances Toor(b.1890- d.1956), an American woman and anthropolgist who in 1922 came to study in Mexico City and essentially made Mexico her home. Diego Rivera, became the magazine's art editor in 1926 and in this 1928 edition we see cover art by Rivera but more importantly inside is the first significant article about Jose Guadalupe Posada. It is written by author Anita Brenner (b. 1905 - d. 1974), born in Aguascalientes, Mexico which was also the birthplace of Posada. The article appearing in this edition of Mexican Folkways would later be incorporated into Brenner's 1929 book, Idols Behind Altars. These publications set the stage for the first comprehesive collection of Posada's works, Monografia, that would be published in 1930 by Frances Toor and Mexican Folkways.