Día de Los Muertos (THE DAY OF THE DEAD)

José Guadalupe Posada () (2 February 1852 ? 20 January 1913) was a Mexican engraver, illustrator and artist whose work has influenced many Latin American artists and cartoonists because of its satirical acuteness and political engagement.

Posada was born in Aguascalientes, on February 2, 1852. His education in his early years was drawn from his older brother Cirilo, a country schoolteacher, who taught him reading, writing, as well as drawing. As a young teenager he went to work in the workshop of Trinidad Pedroso, who taught him lithography and engraving. In 1871, before he was out of his teens, his career began with a job as the political cartoonist for a local newspaper in Aguascalientes, El Jicote ("The Bumblebee"). After 11 issues the newspaper closed, reputedly because one of Posada's cartoons had offended a powerful local politician.[http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/history/jtuck/jtjgposada.html History of Mexico - Mexico's Daumier: Jose Guadalupe Posada, by Jim Tuck in Mexico Connect] He then moved to the nearby city of León, Guanajuato. There he married Maria de Jesús Vela in 1875. In Leon, a former associate of his from Aguascalientes assisted him in starting a printing and commercial illustration shop. They focused on commercial and advertising work, book illustrations, and the printing of posters and other representations of historical and religious figures. Included among these figures were the Virgin of Guadalupe, the Virgin, the Holy Child of Atocha and Saint Sebastian. In 1883, following his success, he was hired as a teacher of lithography at the local Preparatory School. The shop flourished until 1888 when a disastrous flood hit the city. He subsequently moved to Mexico City. His first regular employment in the capital was with La Patria Ilustrada, whose editor was Ireneo Paz, the grandfather of the later famed writer Octavio Paz. He later joined the staff of a publishing firm owned by Antonio Vanegas Arroyo and while at this firm he created a prolific number of book covers and illustrations. Much of his work was also published in sensationalistic broadsides depicting various current events.

Posada's best known works are his calaveras, which often assume various costumes, such as the Calavera de la Catrina, the "Calavera of the Female Dandy", which was meant to satirize the life of the upper classes during the reign of Porfirio Díaz. Most of his imagery was meant to make a religious or satirical point. Since his death, however, his images have become associated with the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos, the "Day of the Dead".

Largely forgotten by the end of his life, Posada's engravings were brought to a wider audience in the 1920s by the French artist Jean Charlot, who encountered them while visiting Diego Rivera. While Posada died in poverty, his images are well known today as examples of folk art. The muralist José Clemente Orozco knew Posada when he was young, and credited Posada's work as an influence on his own.

Category: File - :Posada2.Catrina.jpeg|thumb|La Calavera Catrina

La Calavera Catrina is a 1913 zinc etching by Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada. The image has since become a staple of Mexican imagery, and often is incorporated into artistic manifestations of the Day of the Dead in November, such as altars and calavera costumes. The etching was part of his series of calaveras, which were humorous images of contemporary figures depicted as skeletons, which often were accompanied by a poem.

The word catrina is the feminine form of the word catrín, which means "elegant". The figure, depicted in an ornate hat fashionable at the time, is intended to show that the rich and fashionable, despite their pretensions to importance, are just as susceptible to death as anyone else.

Category: Image - :Catrinas 2.jpg|thumb|left|Two catrinas, about 15 inches tall

Two Catrina figurines, shown to the left, each approximately 38 cm (15 in) tall, are among the collection in the City Museum of León, Guanajuato, Mexico. Popularized by José Guadalupe Posada, this Catrina is the skeleton of an upper class woman and one of the most popular figures of the Day of the Dead celebrations, which occur during two days, November 1 and November 2, corresponding with the Catholic holy days of All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Although these holy days have a long cultural history reaching into the prehistoric traditions of several European cultures, many aspects of the Mexican festival have indigenous origins in an Aztec festival dedicated to the goddess Mictecacihuatl. After the conquest of Mexico, the Spanish superimposed their cultural traditions upon the similar Aztec festival and a synthesis occurred.

Category: Image - :Catrina-sculpture.jpg|thumb|100px|right|Catrina sculpture

La Catrina, as it is commonly known, was a popular print in Posada's day, but soon faded from the popular memory. Along with the rest of Posada's prints, it was revived by French artist and art historian Jean Charlot shortly after the Mexican Revolution in the 1920s. La Catrina soon gained iconic status as a symbol of uniquely Mexican art and was reproduced en masse.

The image was incorporated into Diego Rivera's mural Dream of a Sunday in Alameda Park, which also includes images of his wife Frida Kahlo, Posada, and a self-portrait of Rivera. In addition to its use as a holiday symbol for the Day of the Dead, the image also has been reinterpreted in numerous forms, including sculpture.