Europe Meets Mesoamerica: A Culture Clash of Skulls and Letters

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In 1539, less than twenty years after the so-called Conquest of Mexico, the first printing press in the Americas arrived in Mexico City. Over the following 400 years, the invading armies of Spain, aided and abetted by the Catholic Church, slowly exerted their influence over the Mesoamerican inhabitants of Mexico.

Many aspects of the cultures clashed but also evolved, blending European elements with indigenous traditions. As the country became more Europeanized, folk stories, traditions and printing formats, modified from the influences of Germany, England, France, Spain and even the United States, found their way into the hands of Mexico’s burgeoning population.

Beginning in 1880, an enterprising young man from Puebla, Mexico, Antonio Vanegas Arroyo began what would become one of the leading Penny Press publishing houses in Mexico City. By 1889, his staff included writers and illustrators, including artist Manuel Manilla and most importantly José Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913) whose discovery almost ten years after his death would result in generations of artists viewing him as a champion of human rights.

Ultimately, the imagery he created and even the type styles utilized would serve to inspire future artists and typographers alike. Additionally, the success and savvy of the publisher Vanegas Arroyo along with the talents of Posada, helped preserve a rich tapestry of the historical cultural record, in part, thanks very much to a particular woman from New York.

Educator, producer, and screenwriter Jim Nikas is founder and Director of the privately held Posada Art Foundation (containing over 5,000 works of art), which is dedicated to preserving and promoting the legacy Mexican artists José Guadalupe Posada and Manual Manilla in the United States. Since 2003, Nikas has loaned, curated and co-curated works from its collection at dozens of venues. Beginning in 2019, the Foundation formed a joint venture with Landau Traveling Exhibitions, establishing an ongoing touring exhibition of Posada’s works. Nikas has lectured in the US and in Mexico on various aspects of the art, from Day of the Dead to the influence of José Guadalupe Posada on today's social-movement imagery. Together with film Director Victor Mancilla, Nikas co-produced the first major English-language documentary film about José Guadalupe Posada, Searching for Posada--ART and Revolutions (2014) and is co-screen writer for the documentary The Needle and the Thread about the life of the mystic Franciscan nun María de Jesús de Ágreda. Nikas is a former member of the Advisory Board of the Documentary Film Institute Board at San Francisco State University and served on the board of directors of the Coro Hispano de San Francisco.

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