Mexican Woman

1951

Not on view

Throughout his prolific career, Wilson made art that reflected his desire for social justice and that positively represented people who were frequently overlooked or marginalized. He created Mexican Woman while he was working at the Taller de Gráfica Popular with his close friend Elizabeth Catlett and other artists with work on view here. Wilson was greatly influenced by Mexican modernists such as José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Like them, he focused on prints and murals—art forms they believed to be more democratic and progressive than traditional easel painting. Visible in this striking image are abstract elements that reveal the impact of Fernand Léger, with whom Wilson studied in Paris, as well as forms that recall Olmec sculptures and other Indigenous art he encountered in Mexico.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Title: Mexican Woman
Artist: John Wilson (American, Roxbury, Massachusetts 1922–2015 Brookline, Massachusetts)
Date: 1951
Medium: Lithograph
Dimensions: Sheet: 13 in. × 19 5/16 in. (33 × 49 cm)
Image: 9 1/4 × 11 7/16 in. (23.5 × 29 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Gift of Richard and JoAnn Edinburg Pinkowitz, 2024
Object Number: 2024.69.82
Rights and Reproduction: Courtesy of the Estate of John Wilson
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

By John Wilson

In the same medium

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Martin Luther King, Jr., John Wilson American, Etching and aquatint on chine collé — Martin Luther King, Jr.
Multiple artists/makers
2002

Mother and Child, John Wilson American, Lithograph — Mother and Child
John Wilson
1952

Journey of the Mann Family, from "The Richard Wright Suite", John Wilson American, Etching with aquatint — Journey of the Mann Family, from "The Richard Wright Suite"
Multiple artists/makers
2001

Down by the Riverside, John Wilson American, Illustrated book — Down by the Riverside
John Wilson
Richard Wright
2001

Richard Wright Suite, John Wilson American, Etching with aquatint — Richard Wright Suite
Multiple artists/makers
2001

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