cover artwork from the April 28, 1972 issue of "The San Francisco Foghorn"
The University of San Francisco (USF) Special Collections & University Archives is celebrating Latine/Latinx/Hispanic Heritage Month with a pop-up exhibition in the Donohue Rare Book Room. As we refocus traditionally Euro-centric academic and historical spotlights, this exhibition seeks to showcase the work of Latine authors, artists, and USF students that has been preserved in the Special Collections & University Archives.
The Special Collections & University Archives recognize the importance, power, and nuance behind names. To remain consistent with the examples set by other on-campus groups, including LUNA and Latinas Unidas, this exhibition primarily utilizes the term "Latine" for this exhibition. If we do use a word besides Latine, we decided to use it because our research showed that the creator in question specified preference.
José Guadalupe Posada (1852 - 1913) is one of the most recognizable Latine artists of all time. (1) His lithographic works, often featuring anthropomorphized skeletons in early 19th century Western attire, have come to represent the quintessential Mexican art style.
Posada, José Guadalupe. José Guadalupe Posada : la exposición de su obra del 7 de abril al 7 de junio de 1943 en el Palacio de Bellas Artes (México : S.E.P., Dirección General de Educación Estética, 1943).
Two key reasons made Posada's work become as prolific as it is. The first was his choice of medium. Posada specialized in lithography and engraving, which made it possible to rapidly print and distribute massive quantities of the same image. (1) As he began to build his career in advertisements and political cartoons, the speed at which his works could be produced and the quantity became essential. Herein lies the second reason for his success and longevity: the accessibility of the content.
In a country that was so divided by class and politics, Posada recognized that there would be an issue if he published traditional European-style political cartoons. Traditional cartoons often contained speech bubbles or labels that were essential to conveying the context of the cartoon. However, at this time, many people did not have access to a formal education and could not, therefore, read. It was estimated that only 32% of adults living in Mexico in 1910 could read. (1) Were Posada to include too much text in his political cartoons, his audience would inherently only be upper classes and he would have alienated the majority population. He designed his work to be clear and easy to understand, even without the use of written language. Now individuals who could not read or speak Spanish could understand the political agendas, issues, and events that Posada presented in his cartoons. (1)
To the right: José Guadalupe Posada and the Taller de Gráfica Popular : Mexican popular prints / published on the occasion of the exhibition at the Stanford University Libraries, November 1, 2002-March 15, 2003
The Donohue Rare Book room contains as several highlights from Posada's career, including a collection of his works titled Monografía: las obras de José Guadalupe Posada, grabador Mexicano, which also contains an introduction by Diego Rivera.
To the left: A selected page from Monografía: las obras de José Guadalupe Posada, grabador Mexicano.
Griego, Adán, and D. Vanessa Kam. José Guadalupe Posada and the Taller de Gráfica Popular : Mexican popular prints / published on the occasion of the exhibition at the Stanford University Libraries, November 1, 2002-March 15, 2003. (Stanford, Stanford University, California: Peter Rutledge Koch Press: 2002).
Ramírez, Valentín Peralta. In Achikoli iwan in Temilo = El Achikoli y el Temilo / versión de Valentín Peralta Ramírez ; grabados de Artemio Rodríguez (México: Ediciones del Jorobado: Editorial RM, 2000).
Nahuatl is an Uto-Aztecan language spoken in central and western Mexico. It was the language of the Aztec empire and its predecessor, the Toltec civilization. Although much of the history and culture of indigenous civilizations before European arrival to the Americas has been systematically destroyed, suppressed, and oppressed, some historical texts in Nahuatl, especially from the 16th century, have survived. Nahuatl is still spoken by about 1.5 million people today. (2)
Hernández, Francisco. Los Signos del Zodiaco: doce textos / escritos por Francisco Hernández ; a partir de los grabados en linóleum de Artemio Rodríguez (Santa Rosa, Tacámbaro, Michoacán, Mexico: Taller Martín Pescador, 1997)
David, Tracy and Leigh McLellan. Chiles rellenos: Zuni Cafe and Grill (San Francisco: Meadow Press, 1980s).
Many households of Latine descent pass down recipes. These heritage dishes can vary based on personal taste, preferences, the dish's country of origin and even based on what region of the country a family hails from. Often these recipes become the cornerstone of a new generation's cultural identity. (3)
The recipe for chiles rellenos displayed above is a keepsake from a San Francisco restaurant called Zuni. Although nobody else's cooking can compare to what is prepared by family, this recipe is included in this display to show the variety of ways that several generations can connect with their heritage.
The Bread of Days = El Pan de los Días : once poetas mexicanos = eleven mexican poets / translated by Samuel Beckett; notes on the poets by Octavio Paz ; commentaries by Eliot Weinberger and Octavio Paz ; twelve etchings by Enrique Chagoya (Covelo, Calif.: Yolla Bolly Press, 1994).
Another noteworthy printmaker whose work celebrates and defines the contemporary Latine art style is Artemio Rodríguez. Born in Michoacán, Mexico, Rodríguez is a contemporary linoleum cut printmaker who still creates work (and maintains an Instagram presence) today. (4) In recent years he has started to test the boundaries of the canvas, expanding beyond paper to cars, busses, and wooden book cases, like the one on display here. (4)
Many art historians and researchers draw direct comparisons between Rodríguez and Posada, and it is easy to see why. Rodríguez's bold lines, intense imagery, and stylized portraits are all very reminiscent of the style that Posada became known for. Rather than creating prints that depict current events, Rodríguez's works celebrate Chicano and Latine culture while speaking to the emotional stressors caused by current global politics. While his message is clear and bold in his imagery, Rodríguez often couples his intense symbolism with language that emphasizes the emotions he conveys.
Rodríguez used his art to decorate mobile libraries, to help bring literacy to more people. His goal in creating the decorated mobile library was to create a safe space for Latine people, who often struggle to feel accepted libraries and spaces of higher education. (4)
Image to the left: Book case from American Dream: ten years of prints, books & drawings = diez años de grabados, libros y debujos by Artemio Rodríguez.
Rodríguez does not only celebrate Latine culture and people in his artistic work, but he also actively works to create community spaces in which Latine culture can thrive. In 2003, Rodríguez and his creative partner, Silvia, established La Mano Press in Los Angeles, California. (5) La Mano Press was an independent printmaking studio and workshop, lead by Rodríguez. (5) The Press was founded with the intent to promote the art of printmaking and inspire new artists. (5) During its five years of operation, La Mano Press served as a studio and hosted workshops, exhibitions, and events, creating a sense of community among Los Angeles artists. (5)
Rodríguez and Silvia closed La Mano Press in 2008 after they decided to relocate to their home state of Michoacán, Mexico. (5) However, the mission of La Mano lived on. Together, the two artists established La Mano Gráfica and La Mano Artesana, two gallery spaces designed to promote, showcase, and support local artisans in Michoacán. (5) They also re-established La Mano Press studio, which Rodríguez continues to manage and operate. (5) He even hosts week-long retreats, teaching artists of all mediums how to create cohesive collections of prints. (5)
To the right: Virgen del Zodiaco by Artemio Rodríguez.
Rodríguez, Artemio. American Dream: ten years of prints, books & drawings = diez años de grabados, libros y debujos. (Los Angeles: La Mano Press, 2006).
Cholo. Issue 3 is a collection of publications, also known as a "zine," created by residents of primarily Latine communities throughout California from the 1980s. (6) The work contains photocopies of letters, illustrations, photographs, and poetry selections. Many of the publications represented in this zine played an essential part in fostering a sense of community amongst Latine youth in the Bay Area and California in a pre-internet era. One such publication included in this zine is Teen Angels, art magazine founded in San Jose, California in 1979 that helped popularize the prison-art and literature style that became trademarks of the Chicano movement. (7) Cholo. Issue 3 also provides unique insight into what daily life looked like in 1980 San Francisco. Many of the photocopied photographs throughout the publication are of Latine teenagers in the Mission neighborhood, posing in recognizable streets and parks. Besides photographs of real teenagers and young adults, the zine also contains some political cartoons, showing the growing tensions between neighboring San Francisco communities.
To the left: A selected page from Cholo, Issue 3.
Community often arises organically, based on geographic proximity and a desire for mutual support, but it can also develop as the result of dedicated work. Contrasting Cholo, Issue 3, the cumulative work of an organically developing community, are yearbooks from the University of California Archival collections. These yearbook, published in the same decade that Cholo was, showcase the work of students who identified a lack of community space for Latine students and community members, and decided to work to create one.
The Don, 1989. Housed in the University of San Francisco Archives.
Starting in the mid-1980s, University of San Francisco Latine students began to assert that their unique cultures and voices should be heard across campus. In 1986, students Luis Ramirez, Brenda Solorzano, Elisa Gallegos, and Luis Solorzano formed the first Club Latino. (8)
Much of the work of Club Latino was focused on providing representation to Latine students on the USF campus, especially in regard to contemporary issues faced by Latine communities. Club Latino also took the important initiative to clarify that not all Latine people are from one country, and not all Latine countries have the same cultural trademarks. During their Amigos '89 Vida Alegre, Club Latine showed dance, dress, and songs from different parts of Latin America and named the source of each custom, an important step often overlooked by the mainstream when discussing Latine culture and people. (8)
To the right: This spread from the 1989 edition of USF's yearbook, The Don, highlights a Latine student organization of the time, Club Latino.
"...a history of the Americas which must be read forward and backward, in fragments and in recurring episodes―in short, as history itself tends to unfold." - Guillermo Gómez-Peña (9)
Gómez-Peña, Guillermo, and Enrique Chagoya, and Felicia Rice. Codex Espangliensis: from Columbus to the Border Patrol / Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Enrique Chagoya (Santa Cruz: Moving Parts Press, 1998).
The Codex Espangliensis is result of collaborative work between Latine performance artist and writer Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Chicano visual artist Enrique Chagoya, and book artist Felicia Rice. (9) According to Gómez-Peña's website, the book combines recognizable characters from popular culture, pre-Colombian artwork, and colonial depictions of Native Americans in an effort to subvert prejudices and stereotypes which cause "historical amnesia." The text, derrived from some of Gómez-Peña's live performances, weave throughout the work, creating a simultaneously chaotic and lyrical narrative that pulls the collage images together.
Something particularly unique about this work is the format. Codex Espangliensis is an accordion book which, when stretched out, measures 21 feet long. (9) The book is designed to be read both forwards and backwards, to inspire discussion, and to be thoroughly irreverent. (9)
Born in Parral, Chile on July 12, 1904, Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto (later professionally known as Pablo Neruda) showed poetic talents from an early age. (10) By the time he was 16, Neruda was already publishing poetry and writing as a journalist for the local Temuco newspaper, and writing under a pseudonym to hide his literary work from his father. (11) In 1921, at the age of 17, Neruda moved to Santiago, Chile to study French and later to work full time as a poet. (10) Soon after this move, Neruda published one of the work that made him most famous: Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desperada, or "Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Dispair." (10) The innocence in the emotions of Neruda's poetry spoke to his readers, but as Neruda's life became more tumultuous, so did his poetry.
From 1927 to 1932, Neruda went to Yangon (formerly known as Rangoon) in Mayanmar to serve as Chilean consul ad honorem. (11) Upon his return to Chile, Neruda wrote and in 1933 published the first of two volumes of poetry inspired by his travels through Asia. This work, titled Residencia en la tierra, or "Residents on Earth," shifted away from the innocent love in Neruda's first success and marked the beginning of Neruda's controversial political career.
Neruda was appointed Chilean Consul to Madrid, Spain in 1935, but was soon fired due to his anti-Franco views and writings in the build-up to the Spanish Civil War. (11) Ten years later, in 1945, Neruda was exiled from his home country of Chile when he publicly spoke out against the Chilean President. (11) He was charged with treason and forced to flee the country through the Andes mountains in 1947. (11) By this time, Neruda was officially a member of the Chilean Communist party and would later serve as their senator. (10) Although Neruda's arrest warrant was rescinded in 1952, he continued to travel between Asia, Europe, and the Soviet Union, even earning the Stalin Peace Prize before he the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. (11) Despite his Communist ties and accolades, in the early 1970s, Neruda was asked to serve as Chilean ambassador to France. (11)
Throughout his exile and political career Neruda continued to write and publish poetry, which was always written in green ink, a color that Neruda considered the most "hopeful" color. (12) Despite his professional activity later in life, when he published such works as his Canto General, Neruda developed and passed away from leukemia in 1973. (11)
The work displayed in this exhibit, 100 Love Sonnets = Sonetos de Amor, is a compilations of Neruda's love poems, with the original Spanish printed alongside the English translation. Throughout the work are accompanying artworks that capture the highs and lows of love through Neruda's words.
Neruda, Pablo. 100 Love Sonnets = Sonetos de Amor / by Pablo Neruda ; English translated by Stephen Tapscott ; introduction by Rigoberto González ; with artworks by María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Nicolás Guagnini, Candida Alvarez, Enrique Chagoya (San Francisco: The Arion Press, 2022).
Casillas, Mercurio López. La Muerte en el Impreso Mexicano = Images of Death in Mexican Prints (México: Editorial RM, 2008). English translation by Gregory Dechant.
This page from the 1972 edition of The Don shows the students from La Raza, a Latine student organization from the early 70s, playing games. These games were part of a week-long celebration of Latin-American art, history, and culture called "Semana de La Raza," or "La Raza Week." An advertisement for this event can be seen on the cover of the student newspaper, The Foghorn, above.
Aside from levity and cultural appreciation, La Semana de La Raza also gave students of the Latine community a chance to voice their concerns about Latine students in higher education. Speakers David Sanches and Don Ortez spoke at the event, specifically to address the how Latine students at USF might feel empowered students to take charge of their own academic careers. (13)
Image to the left: The Don, 1972. Housed in the University of San Francisco Archives.
Curated by Lia Sina, Special Collections & University Archives Student Assistant, and Maura Wilson, Special Collections & University Archives Department Assistant.
References
- The Posada Art Foundation. "About Posada." Posada Art Foundation. 2014, (https://www.posada-art-foundation.com/about-posada) 9 November 2023.
- Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Nahuatl language". Encyclopedia Britannica, 16 Jun. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nahuatl-language. Accessed 9 November 2023.
- Evans, Savannah. "Food as Culture: Cuisine, Food Customs, and Cultural Identity." San Luis Obispo Food Bank,19 July 2023, https://www.slofoodbank.org/food-as-culture/#:~:text=Food%20is%20considered%20a%20part,vital%20parts%20of%20cultural%20heritage.
- Pendse, Liladhar. "Artemio Rodriguez: Continuing Posada's Legacy in Contemporary México." Illustrating México one page at a time-Print Art of José Guadalupe Posada. February 2019-July 2019, UC Berkeley Moffitt Library (https://exhibits.lib.berkeley.edu/spotlight/art-of-posada/feature/artemio-rodriguez-continuing-posada-s-legacy-in-contemporary-mexico), 16 October 2023.
- "La Mano Press." La Mano Gráfica. (https://www.lamanograficamx.com/la-mano-press), 16 October 2023.
- Silvera Ed. Cholo. Issue 3. Publisher Not Identified 1980.
- Maxwell, Brandon Loran. "Teen Angels Magazine - A Look Back at Chicano History" The Daily Chela. 11 Oct 2023.
- The Don, 1989. Housed in the University of San Francisco Archives.
- "Select Publications." Guillermo Gómez-Peña. (https://www.guillermogomezpena.com/publications/#codex-espangliensis), 17 Oct 2023.
- "Pablo Neruda – Facts." NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2023. Fri. 20 Oct 2023. (https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1971/neruda/facts/).
- Strand, Mark. "The Ecstasists."8 Sept 2003. (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/09/08/the-ecstasist.) 24 Oct 2023.
- Montagne, Renee, Mark Eisner. “Celebrating the Palo Neruda Centenial.” NPR, 12 July 2004. https://www.npr.org/2004/07/12/3301011/celebrating-the-pablo-neruda-centennial
- The Don, 1972. Housed in the University of San Francisco Archives.