The skeleton of the people’s editor (Antonio Vanegas Arroyo)

José Guadalupe Posada

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The bearded skeleton wearing a top hat and glasses represents Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, who published many of Posada’s prints. The verses around the image list his range of publications. His commercial success is indicated by the thousand-dollar note clutched in his right hand. Such humorous mocking of a man who was a friend and patron of Posada is part of the semi-satirical tradition of the calavera (skeleton). The two scenes behind Vanegas Arroyo reflect aspects of his profession. The shop in the upper section represents the commercial side of his profession. Below are skeletons in a workshop engaged in proofreading and operating the press.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art