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jenncrestwood

Apr 14, 2012, 5:13 AM

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Emiliano Zapata HELP

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Hi! i have an old poster that I have been trying and trying to find on the internet and do NOT see it ANYWHERE! It is a wanted poster of Emiliano Zapata...really more sentimental to me as it has several tears, but I am curious where it came from and what it would have been worth had I taken better care of it.
Thanks!!!!! I attached the picture of the poster below
Jenn

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ì‚¬ì§„ (2).jpg (75.5 KB)

Sculptari

Apr 14, 2012, 8:54 AM

Post #2 of 14 (2462 views)

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Re: [jenncrestwood] Emiliano Zapata HELP

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I recognize the photo, but the original photographer does not spring to mind. His grandson is still operates the family studio in Mexico City. What I remember is these photos are some of the most widely distributed items in Mexico - but the photographer and family never received any money until they were sold to a U.S. collection in 1948. The Bains collection claims that these photos are copyright free so all you have to find is someone who knows photoshop and bring the file to a poster size digital printer - about $2US a page. Try to find or purchase the largest (resolution) photo available.

richmx2

Apr 14, 2012, 2:46 PM

Post #3 of 14 (2409 views)

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Re: [jenncrestwood] Emiliano Zapata HELP

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The photo itself cut down from a larger photo taken in 1914 by either Augustín Victor Casasola, or one of his assistants. Casasola was a printer and amateur photographer, who — recognizing both the technological innovations in printing that made it possible to print photos in newspapers, and that the Mexican Revolution was world-wide news — set up one of the world's first photo wire-services. There are several versions of the same photo, with and without a woman with a water jug in the background... probably actually taken in Casasola's studio in Mexico City.

The "wanted poster" is, of course, a souvenir... Zapata was never wanted in the United States, was never anywhere near the United States and had there ever been a wanted poster for Zapata, it wouldn't have been in English.

http://mexfiles.net
http://voiceofmexico.com
http://editorialmazatlan.com

jenncrestwood

Apr 15, 2012, 9:02 AM

Post #4 of 14 (2336 views)

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Re: [richmx2] Emiliano Zapata HELP

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Thanks guys!! I appreciate the feedback!! It was a promotional poster put out by a watch company back in the 60's and then pulled off the market...trying to find any history on it.
jenn

Sculptari

Apr 15, 2012, 9:37 AM

Post #5 of 14 (2319 views)

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Re: [jenncrestwood] Emiliano Zapata HELP

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Thank you for the name- he was a great man and his name deserves to be remembered.

Another great photographer and amazing personality was Tina Modotti. Her true life story reads like that Barbara Kingsolver novel- La Lacuna. There was an excellent documentary on her life called "Tina in Mexico". I bought a VHS of it but now it has only been released as a very expensive "education resource", including public broadcast rights - about $200 U.S. The Bullfrog Films seems have a community screening program. This would be great for a group of English speaking/English learning groups in Mexico. http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/tina.html

La Isla

Apr 15, 2012, 11:58 AM

Post #6 of 14 (2284 views)

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Re: [Sculptari] Emiliano Zapata HELP

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Another great photographer and amazing personality was Tina Modotti.

If you're interested in Tina Modotti, I can recommend the novel Tinísima by the wonderful Mexican writer Elena Poniatowska. It is based on Modotti's life and is available in a good English translation.by Katherine Silver published by Farrar Straus Giroux. She was an excellent photographer who learned her craft from her mentor and lover the great American photographer Edward Weston. However, she abandoned photography fairly early in her career to devote herself heart and soul to the Mexican Communist Party. As a devoted amateur photographer with a great interest in the work of female photographers, I find it sad that she gave up art for politics.

For anyone interested in Mexican photography who will be in Mexico City in the next few weeks, get you to the Museo de Arte Popular to see a fascinating exhibition of the work of Mariana Yampolsky: http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/cultura/68178.html . It closes on May 27.

richmx2

Apr 15, 2012, 4:53 PM

Post #7 of 14 (2244 views)

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Re: [La Isla] Emiliano Zapata HELP

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Several foreign photographers worked in Mexico just after the Revolution. Modetti did some of her best work here (and is buried here), she is normally considered an Italian artist. Just as her sometime collaborator and lover, Edward Weston, is considered a U.S. photographer and their mutual acquaintance, Henri Cartier-Bresson, is French. And, for what it's worth, Cuban exile lawyer Fidel Castro and Argentine exile doctor Che Guevara met when both were working in Mexico City snapping photos of the tourists back in pre-digital, pre-polaroid days.

While Hugo Brehme is sometimes considered a German photographer (and his archives are in the Prussian Institute for Latin American studies), he is usually considered Mexican. Between him and Manuel Álvarez Bravo -- THE great post-Revolutionary Mexican photographer -- they created the popular image of Mexico.

http://mexfiles.net
http://voiceofmexico.com
http://editorialmazatlan.com

(This post was edited by richmx2 on Apr 15, 2012, 4:58 PM)

Sculptari

Apr 15, 2012, 7:39 PM

Post #8 of 14 (2209 views)

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Re: [richmx2] Emiliano Zapata HELP

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Thank you Jenn for introducing a really interesting thread!

What I wonder now is the story of the 30,000 immigrants from the Spanish Civil War, including Tina Modotti. I had always heard that she was murdered under mysterious circumstance by a Stalinist assassin in a taxi cab. Now the Spaniards, much to the Mexican's chagrin, control much of he all inclusive and resort trade in Mexico

La Isla

Apr 15, 2012, 8:21 PM

Post #9 of 14 (2191 views)

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Re: [Sculptari] Emiliano Zapata HELP

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What I wonder now is the story of the 30,000 immigrants from the Spanish Civil War, including Tina Modotti.

Tina Modotti didn´t immigrate to Mexico because of the Spanish Civil War, though she did go to Spain during that bloody conflict and worked with the Communists involved in the struggle. She first came to Mexico in the early 1920s, long before the Spanish Civil War began in 1936.

richmx2

Apr 15, 2012, 8:56 PM

Post #10 of 14 (2184 views)

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Re: [Sculptari] Emiliano Zapata HELP

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That's one I hadn't heard, and even serial fabulist Diego Rivera probably wouldn't have believed. Rivera tried to claim she was somehow poisoned by her Vittorio Vidali, a fellow Italian Communist with whom she had come to Mexico via Moscow (where they had fled after Spain fell to the Fascists in 1936). But, as far as anyone knows, she just died of a heart ailment.

Not sure how this got all mixed up with the Spanish refugees although there were a number of artists and intellectuals who emigrated to Mexico (usually one step ahead of the fascists) and, in a very real sense, moved the center of Hispanic culture and intellectual thought from the peninsula to Mexico. Whether your figure of 300K includes only those fleeing the Civil War, or all those who came to Mexico during the Franco era I don't know. Mexico didn't recognize Franco's regime, and the Spanish Republic's government-in-exile in Mexico City and there were Spanish refugees (who received automatic asylum) showing up into the 1970s.

http://mexfiles.net
http://voiceofmexico.com
http://editorialmazatlan.com

pana

Apr 15, 2012, 9:23 PM

Post #11 of 14 (2176 views)

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Re: [richmx2] Emiliano Zapata HELP

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The photo is cropped from the original by Hugo Brehme. See the attached photo.

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emiliano.jpg (19.1 KB)

tonyburton

Apr 16, 2012, 7:52 AM

Post #12 of 14 (2127 views)

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Re: [pana] Emiliano Zapata HELP

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Good eye! Brehme was one of the first commercial photographers in Mexico to photograph landscapes and landmarks as well as people for the postcard trade.
However, according to http://jsaxon.tumblr.com/post/15878885492/la-imagen-de-zapata-the-image-of-zapata the image in question was NOT actually originally taken by Brehme, but by someone named “F. Moray” or “F. McKay” !
Another Mexico mystery to entertain us all...

pana

Apr 16, 2012, 11:49 AM

Post #13 of 14 (2085 views)

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Re: [tonyburton] Emiliano Zapata HELP

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I think this researcher is probably right. I have two Hugo Brehme prints, both signed by him in pencil, which was his well known way of signing his photographs. His signature is in cursive, but the subjects in my photos, Ixtaccihuatl and Taxco, are printed, all caps. It seems logical that if the Zapata photo was his, his signature would surely be on it. I've attached a scanned jpg of one of my photos which is necessarily dark so you can see the signature.

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BREHME.JPG (31.3 KB)

richmx2

Apr 16, 2012, 12:34 PM

Post #14 of 14 (2064 views)

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Re: [tonyburton] Emiliano Zapata HELP

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Good eye, indeed! BTW, there is a new book on Brehme's photographs, from the U. of Texas press. Here's an article on the book, and an exhibit of Brehme photos running through 5 August in Austin: Austin American-Statesman

http://mexfiles.net
http://voiceofmexico.com
http://editorialmazatlan.com