Soldier

2004

Soldier, 2004. José Luis Cuevas (Mexican, 1934–2017). Lithograph; image: 53.3 x 38.1 cm (21 x 15 in.); sheet: 53.3 x 38.1 cm (21 x 15 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Kay Kujala Deaux 2020.240 José Luis Cuevas was known for prints that drew from indigenous Mexican culture and traditions. The artist was a central member of the Ruptura movement, a generation of painters who reacted against the nationalism and idealism of the Mexican Muralist artists who had come before them. This print features the exaggerated, aggressive forms that characterized the artist’s work, evoking his native culture but with greater ambivalence and, at times, pessimism. José Luis Cuevas created this print at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop, one of several print shops that he was invited to work at internationally.