On Losing a Job
Medium
Graphic Arts-Print
Classification
Graphic Arts-Print
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Jack Lord
Accession Number
1971.439.51
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
José Guadalupe Posada (1852–1913), a pioneering Mexican printmaker from Aguascalientes, renowned for his bold, satirical broadsides that captured the social upheavals of early 20th-century Mexico His work, often featuring skeletal figures known as *calaveras*, critiqued politics, poverty, and everyday struggles with wry humor. *On Losing a Job*, graphic arts print published posthumously in 194, exemplifies this tradition, likely using the tag "head" to highlight a poignant, emblematic portrait—perhaps a dejected worker or iconic skull—symbolizing economic hardship amid Mexico's turbulent trans...