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![[Black and white photo of native American with mask.]](./img/posada-04791u-detail.gif)
Engraving by José Guadalupe Posada
Mexican engraver José Guadalupe Posada was largely forgotten by the end of his life, and died in poverty. He was, however, soon to be quoted as a crucial inspiration for the muralist movement in his country, and as his work continued to grew in importance, his images became touchstones of national identity for Mexicans everywhere.
Throughout his career, Posada regularly provided artwork for more than 20 different periodical publications. His engravings also ended up in broadsides, chapbooks, posters, programs, books, brochures, and advertisement. In 1890 he started working for the publishing house of Don Antonio Vanegas Arroyo, and continued this cooperation until right before his death in 1913. His most famous work stems from this period.
During a recent visit to the Library of Congress, we dug out some of our favorite Posada prints, and from those we offer a gallery we’ve called Posada’s Calaveras: From the A. Vanegas Arroyo broadsides.
It’s around noon, late October, in a small town on the northwestern edge of the Colorado Desert. The outside air is clean and fresh, almost cold. A breeze blows through an open balcony door. Indoors, a modestly sized living room is jam-packed with dazzling paraphernalia, effects from the glamorous past of the lady who lives here. She’s worked in burlesque since the early 1960s.
Sociologist Danielle Egan worked as a striptease dancer and wrote about it. Here is an excerpt from her book Dancing for Dollars and Paying for Love.
Philippe Bourgois and Jeff Schonberg spent over a decade doing fieldwork with two dozen homeless heroin and crack addicts on the streets of San Francisco, and produced an extraordinary wellcrafted documentation of this dystopian side of American society.
Their book, Righteous Dopefiend, is an ethnographic tour de force, and we’re stoked to bring you an excerpt.
“The common definition of ‘race’ is based upon an arbitrary and superficial selection of external characters,” wrote Ashley Montagu in 1942. We have Montagu’s article for your reading pleasure: The genetical theory of race, and anthropological method.
The finest, raunchiest, most teasing poster art from the world of burlesque, from the Folies Bergère to the retro-inspired scene of today. A high-octane, eye-popping collection of visual raunch and bump and grind.
“Sir, I was just now sitting around working on a Revell 1:25 model kit of a Kenworth® W900, and the absorption and joy of the work put me into some deep, deep contemplation …”
More on our feedback page.
We’re celebrating the remodel of American Ethnography’s web pages, by offering our T-shirts for $19.95. And that’s including shipping, no matter where you are in the world! It’s ridiculous, that’s what it is!
To finance our independent research project – Car Customizing & Outlaw Aesthetics – we created a limited edition serigraph. They’re hand printed by us here at American Ethnography – black ink on 100% cotton fiber paper.
We think they came out good, and you’ll find them in our online store.
Have you got some good stuff you think American Ethnography Quasiweekly should cover? Please send us an email and tell us about it!
