The Guerrilla Fighter Aureliano Rivera

1951

Heroes of the Fatherland: The Guerrilla Fighter Aureliano Rivera, 1951. Erasto Cortés Juárez (Mexican, 1900–1972). Linocut; sheet: 37.3 x 35.7 cm (14 11/16 x 14 1/16 in.); image: 27.3 x 21.7 cm (10 3/4 x 8 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift from funds of various donors to the Department of Prints and Drawings 2000.98 © Erasto Cortés Juárez Erasto Cortés Juárez took up printmaking late in life and often used it to illustrate his own texts on Mexico’s cultural and political history. Such publications were popular in the decades following the revolution, as the country reconsidered its national identity. Included in a book about the country’s heroes, this print depicts guerrilla fighter Aureliano Rivera (1832–1903). Rivera attempted to stage a coup d’etat against Mexican president Benito Juárez (1806–1872), who he believed had been reelected unjustly. Cortés Juárez shows Rivera gazing forward boldly despite the violence taking place behind him, emphasizing his bravery and determination. In the year this print was made, Erasto Cortés Juárez published his own historical account of modern Mexican printmaking.