Estampas de Yucatan (Prints of the Yucatan), 1945
by Alfredo Zalce (1908-2003), Mexico
Printed by the Taller de Grafica Popular
Lithographs in buckram casing
Paper Size: 17 1/2" h x 15 1/8” w
Portfolio Size: 18 5/16” h x 15 15/16” w
Mint condition
Like many of his contemporaries, Alfredo Zalce expressed a deep interest in the varied indigenous and regional cultures of Mexico. The eight prints in theEstampas de Yucatán portfolio—which was successfully marketed in both Mexico and the United States—attest to his enduring fascination with contemporary Mayan culture following an extended trip in 1944 to the southeastern Mexican region of the Yucatán. Here he presented the Maya as a dignified and contained people existing in harmony with their environment. The prints focus on characteristic gestures and seemingly unchanged rituals of work, as well as on the area’s lush and bountiful terrain, both imposing and sustaining in its presence. Such lyrical meditations on a provincial present and its connection to an idealized indigenous past correspond with the post-revolutionary conceptions of mexicanidad, the recognition of Mexican popular traditions and regional cultures.
The portfolio Estampas de Yucatan consists of eight lithographs, all signed and dated (1945) by Alfredo Zalce. They were printed by José Sanchez in the workshop of the Taller de Grafica Popular (Mexico D.F). The portfolio has a prologue in both Spanish and English written by renown French/Mexican artist Jean Charlot. The edition was limited to 100 portfolios. The prints are housed in the original purple buckram casing with the letterpress. The portfolio and each print has been cleaned and stabilized by Portland paper restoration expert Elizabeth Chambers.
Alfredo Zalce was born in Patzcuaro, in the state of Michoacan, on January 12, 1908. During his early years he became friends with Mexico’s older great artists, including Rivera, Tamayo, Siquieros, Orozco, and Kahlo. He founded art schools and organizations which still function and are of current importance. When the President of Mexico last visited the Vatican, the one gift from Mexico chosen as a gift to the Pope was a small painting of a Mexican village painted by Maestro Alfredo Zalce.
Unlike other artists, Zalce has spent an entire lifetime avoiding fame and fortune. He simply wants to paint. His artistic versatility is partially demonstrated by his total mastery in producing art with oil, acrylic, batik, pencil, watercolor, engraving, serigraph, bronze, stone, ink, pastel, ceramic, monotype, and on and on. His art has been exhibited in every country of the free world, and his numerous gigantic murals and statues represent a vital part of Mexican history.
