Illustration for a Popular Song 1943

This is Leopoldo Méndez's "Illustration for a Popular Song," and the deep blacks and whites grab you, right? I think about Méndez wielding his tools, gouging out the wood to make the whites sing. You can almost feel the physical act— the pressure, the resistance of the wood. It makes me think about Goya too, and his etchings – so much political rage, distilled down to a print. You see those folks in the background, frothing with hate? Méndez lets the texture of the print describe their twisted faces, all those frantic little lines creating a sense of chaotic energy. And then the heroes, right up front, holding the hammer and sickle aloft. They emerge from the darkness. I can almost imagine Méndez thinking about the power of collective action, and the way art can amplify the voices of the oppressed. It's like a call and response, echoing through time and space.