Described by John Ittman as a “protagonist in the actual political struggles of the day,”1 Leopoldo Méndez (1902-1969) combined his passions for art and social equality by affiliating himself with organizations of artists that sought to raise awareness about political and social issues that affected both Mexico and the world at large. Méndez attended the art schools of Academia de San Carlos and Escuela de Pintura al Aire Libre de Chimalistac, but despite his formal education and incredible skill, he didn’t seek fame or fortune. According to Deborah Caplow, “[Méndez] opposed the concept of making art for profit, and his financial circumstances were always modest. For Méndez, the true value of art was in its social utility, rather than its value as a commodity.”2

In 1934, Méndez collaborated with Pablo O’Higgins and other Mexican artists to form Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarias (League of Revolutionary Writers and Artists, LEAR), a communist organization of artists and writers that aimed to “strengthen ties between Mexico and the Soviet Union and to fight fascism in all its forms, especially Nazism”3 through the influence of visual art and the written word. Because LEAR quickly became popular, many artists and writers joined the organization to use it as a route to success, rather than joining with the intention of using their talent to benefit the organization and further its mission. Because he believed that “artists should work collectively and anonymously, not for personal gain but for the benefit of society,”4 Méndez left LEAR in 1937 and co-founded Taller de Grafica Popular (The Popular Graphic Workshop, TGP). TGP was another anti-fascist organization that attempted to appeal to society through the use of art. Utilizing printmaking as propaganda, TGP made thousands of posters, often using the linocut technique, to oppose fascism and promote change that would  “benefit the Mexican populace.”5

Fueled by the political charge of the Mexican artistic movement, Méndez created a piece in 1942 called Deportation to Death (Death Train), which he included in the journal El Libro Negro. Fashioned via the then-popular linocut style, Deportation to Death was used to raise awareness of the Nazi regime in Germany during World War II. In the linocut, Méndez depicts the reality of the Holocaust and offers “one of the earliest attempts by an artist to draw attention to the Nazi death camps.”6 It features a train that is being filled with Holocaust victims under the orders of Nazi officials. The train extends far into the distance, and black exhaust billows forth from it. The transparent misery of the victims’ faces and the ominous nature of the exhaust, which is “eerily evocative of smoke from the crematoria chimneys,”7 combine to suggest that death is imminent. Yet in spite of their severance from society and the threat of death, the victims are able to unite in their mutual suffering and desperation to draw strength and hope from one another. Likewise, though the separation of three groups of victims suggests how families were torn apart and sent to different camps, they are united in the fact that all are being sent to similar fates.

Though it is subtle, the linocut has one key characteristic. The group of victims in the foreground has already filled a box of the train, the group directly behind them appears as though it has just begun to board, and the group in the very background stands in front of yet another box of the train, though it has not begun to board it yet. In this way, the linocut denotes the past, present, and future tenses. At the time that Deportation to Death was published, this distinction among the groups suggested that the Holocaust was an active, ongoing process that Méndez hoped to halt through the influence of his work. Despite Méndez’s communist affiliations, he chose to focus on the Jewish victims rather than the Communist victims, which Caplow said, “indicates his understanding of the news he was receiving and the sensitivity to current events.”8

His sensitivity and desperation to end the Holocaust, as well as the hopelessness many felt during that time, is reinforced with the seeming endlessness of the train. These things establish this piece as a call to action, and a call for unity, rather than merely a representation of history.

Méndez’s use of the linocut style is particularly effective in expressing the theme of unity and disunity as well as the urgency of ending the Holocaust. In this style, designs are carved into linoleum, and the raised surface, or relief, that remains is then covered with ink and pressed to another surface to make a print. Because linocuts are created through a carving technique, the lines of the relief can often appear to be harsh. Méndez “exploits the bold graphic potential of the relief medium”9 to heighten tension in the piece and the urgency of his message. The use of contrasting black and white tones, which are often characteristic of the linocut style, suggests the distinction between binaries, such as unity and disunity. But because “[Méndez] was able to achieve a remarkable range of middle tones with the black and white medium by nicking out small bits of the block where he required a grayer tonality,”10 his style is also able to depict the concept that unity and disunity can coexist. Though these gray tones are used in Deportation to Death, they are not used to form the expressive faces or figures of the people in the linocut, and therefore do not detract from the seriousness of the situation or dilute the urgency of Méndez’s message.

SKB

1. Ittmann, John, Innis Shoemaker, James Wechsler, and Lyle Williams, Mexico and Modern Printmaking: A Revolution in the Graphic Arts (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art; San Antonio: McNay Art Museum; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), 21.
2. Caplow, Deborah. Leopoldo Méndez: Revolutionary Art and the Mexican Print. 1 ed. (Austin: University of Texas Press), 2007.
3. Ittmann, Mexico and Modern Printmaking, 15.
4. Caplow, Leopoldo Mendez, 3.
5. Donahue-Wallace, Kelly. “Leopoldo Méndez.” Print Quarterly 25, no. 4 (2008): 456.
6. Ittmann, Mexico and Modern Printmaking, 72.
7. Caplow, Leopoldo Méndez, 167.
8. Caplow, Leopoldo Méndez, 167.
9. Donahue-Wallace, “Leopoldo Méndez,” 456.
10. Ittmann, Mexico and Modern Printmaking, 16.