By: Raul Anguiano

Medium: lithograph
Year: 1946
Image Size: 17.6" H x 15.1" W
Signature: Pencil, lower Right
Paper: Cream wove
Publisher: Taller de Grafica Popular

Raúl Anguiano (1915–2006) was a prominent figure of the second generation of Mexican muralists, a group that carried forward the legacy of Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and José Clemente Orozco. Deeply engaged with the social and political issues of his time, Anguiano developed a distinctive visual language rooted in the everyday life of Mexico’s indigenous and working-class communities. While his large-scale murals are perhaps his most public legacy, his work in drawing and printmaking—particularly lithography—demonstrates a powerful, refined technique and an equally strong commitment to portraying the dignity and labor of common people.

This print, created for the 1946 portfolio Mexican Art: A Portfolio of Mexican People and Places by Taller de Gráfica Mexicana, shows a laborer with a cart and oxen in front of a grand industrial kiln, its massive plumes of smoke rising like tornadoes into the sky. Anguiano transforms this industrial scene into a kind of visual epic, where human strength and endurance are set against the immense forces of industry and nature.