In his comments on the work of José Guadalupe Posada, Carlos Mérida highlights the plasticity of Posada’s artwork. He goes on to point out that both Leopoldo Méndez and Alfredo Zalce have carried on the tradition initiated by Manuel Manilla, which then flourished with Posada. As the writer sees it, Méndez took the tradition in a completely contemporary direction, while Zalce addressed all the genres of printmaking in the same relaxed way. Since Zalce was a born draftsman, his work represents a link to nineteenth century costumbrista printmaking. Mérida also comments on the importance of the Taller de Gráfica Popular [People’s Graphics Workshop], which has fulfilled the mission of bringing its message of art and culture to all.

In this essay, Carlos Mérida (1891–1984) gives us a different reading of José Guadalupe Posada and those he regarded as continuing in the same trend: Leopoldo Méndez and Alfredo Zalce. Starting in the 1930s, the painter/writer used the concept of abstract art to analyze artworks, reaching the conclusion that good painting was no more than a creative manifestation of abstraction. Since it emerges from an artistic process, the work must be structured in reality, whatever that may be, separated into form and color and reorganized as a plastic form. Working from these premises, Mérida reassesses the work of the printmakers. He maintains that Posada, Méndez, Zalce and Manilla are all great artists because their works have flourished as the sum of the artistic values they incorporate. This is clear in the poetic whiff of this artwork, in the transmutation of its elements and in the touch of personality implicit in the works. To Mérida, these artists reach the level of perfect Abstract art. It is perfect because, given the strength of the emotional atmosphere of these prints, the anecdotal and technical qualities of the works are relegated to a secondary level. This is where Méndez and Zalce take up and carry on the tradition initiated by Manilla and later consolidated by Posada.   This essay was published in the Revista de Guatemala [Guatemala Review], Year 1, Vol. 4. Guatemala City, April-June 1946.   The mock-up includes underlining and comments by the painter, who wrote this essay specifically for Guatemala.