print
- Museum number
- 2008,7114.14
- Title
- Object: Mexican Interior
- Description
-
Two Indian women, one standing, one sitting, and a small boy inside a Mexican home; ceramic pots with patterns hang on the wall in the background. 1933.
Etching.
- Production date
- 1933
- Dimensions
-
Height: 412 millimetres (image)
-
Width: 270 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- See comment for 2008,7114.13.
Text from 'Revolution on Paper: Mexican Prints 1910-1960', Dawn Adès and Alison McClean, with the assistance of Laura Campbell, edited by Mark McDonald, BMP, 2009.
'Set inside a Mexican home, the main subject of the print is the family. Of the interior only the stone floor, cooking utensils and a collection of decorated ceramic pots hanging on the wall are visible. These provide props for the domestic context. There is a hint of the sepia photograph about the gradations of shading and the family portrait style of the composition.
A striking aspect of the print is its stillness, an effect that Cook achieves through the use of folds in the garments and the contrast of dark and light evoking the monumentality of sculpture. The huge feet and pensive expressions of the figures underscore their statuesque forms; the standing girl on the left is frozen in motion, her hands positioned above a large ceramic bowl. Their stillness, however, is punctuated by the faint outline of a mariachi musical group in the background, a symbol of Mexican popular culture.
The print's sensitive representation of an indigenous family made it an instant success: within a year it had been awarded the Society of American Etchers' John Taylor Arms Prize and the Philadelphia Art Alliance Prize Print Award.'
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
2009/10 Oct-April, BM, Revolution on Paper: Mexican Prints, cat 70
2010/11 Nov-Feb, Nottingham, Djanogly Gallery, Revolution on Paper
2011 June-Aug, Newcastle, Hatton Gallery, Revolution on Paper
- Acquisition date
- 2008
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 2008,7114.14
