Assignment 5B

Assignment 5B
The piece of art that I chose was a drawing of Hidalgo by Jose Guadalupe Posada (1852 to 1913). This drawing shows the face of hidalgo and around his face are the words that Hidalgo yelled when he rang the bell to call on all Mexicans to free Mexico from Spanish rule. It looks like this may have been a newspaper cover or just a poster. It is made on paper and since Posada did have access to a printer he may have printed many copies of this. Here is a link:
http://www.artslant.com/sf/works/show/32984
There is a much better picture here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Miguel_Hidalgo_y_Costilla.jpg

I found this picture when I was researching Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. He is known as the father of Mexican independence because he was the priest who rang the bell in Dolores, Mexico to yell “ Mexicanos Viva Mexico!” This cry was to convince all of the Mestizos, (native born Mexicans) to fight to liberate their country from Spain.

I think that this piece is relevant to my study of humanities because it shows the emotions of the people in the words that frame Hidalgo’s face. Everyone deserves to be free of oppression and this is the first man that stood up for the rights of all Mexican’s whether native born or Spanish born. He helped spark a passion that brought people together for a common cause. He was a leader in the church and now of his country.

What I can see in the piece is the picture of Hidalgo and the words of his famous quote surrounding his face. It looks like it is black ink only on paper. It looks like this was made to honor Hidalgo and Mexican independence. It mentions the year of 1810 and states that the title is “ a page of glory”. It is obviously meant to honor the late Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. It is wonderful to see that Posada would honor Hidalgo in this manner. It is great to see his picture prominently displayed and looking so strong. It looks like a painting that would have come from that era that was copied and put into print maybe. I noticed that many famous King and Queens had portraits of themselves and this reminds me of that. He is royalty in the eyes of many Mexicans and he should be honored in this way.

I chose this piece because I wanted something from that era that shows how much people from Hidalgo’s time or near his time felt about him. It is clear that they honored him and what he accomplished even though he never lived to see his dream become a reality. This painting makes me feel that anyone can do anything. If you believe something in your heart you can make a difference even though Hidalgo never saw his hopes become real He still made a huge impact on the war of independence. This picture feels strong and proud to me. I love the history behind it. I have enjoyed learning about Hidalgo’s history. If I could ask Posada anything it would be how he personally felt when he was working on this piece. I also want to know why he chose only black. I know that he had a print shop at one point in time and maybe it was convenience. See link below:
http://www.hawaii.edu/artgallery/posada.html