Human Flower Project
La Calavera Catrina
One too many face lifts, La Calavera Catrina grins again. She returns to Austin each November as we celebrate El Dia de los Muertos – Day of the Dead.
Who knows how old this image truly is? the snooty rich lady overpowered by time. She’s reduced to a saggy velvet dress and outsized hat, always decorated with feathers and flowers. Artist Jose Guadalupe Posada made this famous image of her, a zinc etching, in 1913, likely as a seasonal broadside. “Calaveras” (meaning, literally, “skeletons”) are satirical poems that roast the high and mighty. The writing and sharing of calaveras are still popular customs at Day of the Dead (All Souls) in Mexico and parts of South Texas, too.
We hadn’t known that Posada, whose signature style is so well known today, died in poverty and obscurity. We understand that French artist Jean Charlot discovered Posada’s prints while visiting Diego Rivera in Mexico, and introduced the smile and sting of his art to international audiences.
In coming days we’ll be seeing lots of this lady—on t-shirts, in statuettes, in papier mache on holiday ofrendas (altars). Her skull framed with flowers, La Catrina reminds us “you can’t take it with you.” And Posada’s own saga says, on the contrary, “it” may happen after you’re gone.
