La Danza de la Muerte II (Dance of Death II), from the album Leopoldo Méndez: 25 Prints
Leopoldo Méndez, La Danza de la Muerte II (Dance of Death II), from the album Leopoldo Méndez: 25 Prints, 1945, wood engraving on china paper, Museum Purchase: Helen Thurston Ayer Fund, © artist or other rights holder, 45.10.17
This work is not currently on view.
- Title
La Danza de la Muerte II (Dance of Death II), from the album Leopoldo Méndez: 25 Prints
- Related Titles
album (translated): Leopoldo Méndez: 25 Prints
original language: La Danza de la Muerte II
translated: Dance of Death II
- Artist
- Related People
print publisher: Leopoldo Méndez (Mexican, 1902-1969)
publisher: La Estampa Mexicana (Mexican, active 20th century)
- Date
1945
- Medium
wood engraving on china paper
- Edition
21/25
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
image: 7 7/8 in x 4 5/8 in; sheet: 9 11/16 in x 6 7/8 in
- Inscriptions & Markings
numbered: 17, graphite, bottom right corner
numbered; inscription: 45.10.17 MENDEZ, Leopoldo - Dance of Death (II.), graphite [in another hand], bottom left Language: English
signature: Méndez, graphite, lower right
- Collection Area
Graphic Arts
- Category
Prints
- Object Type
intaglio print
- Culture
Mexican
- Credit Line
Museum Purchase: Helen Thurston Ayer Fund
- Accession Number
45.10.17
- Copyright
© artist or other rights holder
- Terms
In 1944, Leopoldo Méndez produced forty wood engravings to illustrate the book "Incidentes melódicos del mundo irracional" (Melodic Incidents of the Irrational World) with text by Juan de la Cabada, and published by La Estampa Mexicana. The text blends myth and fantasy and draws upon folk songs and stories from the Yucatán Peninsula. Méndez called upon Surrealism, magical realism, and pre-Columbian imagery to illustrate the story of good versus evil as enacted by animal protagonists. The success of the book prompted the publisher to select twenty-five of the wood engravings before text and publish them as "Leopoldo Méndez: 25 Prints" in 1945 in an edition of 25. This image is from that album.
- Exhibitions
1989 Grafica Popular: 20th Century Mexican Prints Portland Art Museum
2002 Gráfica de Mexico Portland Art Museum