Join BAM for a lively panel discussion to explore the many ways in which José Guadalupe Posada made a lasting impression on 20th century Mexican art and artists. The galleries will be open for visitors to see Posada’s work firsthand and explore the new exhibition José Guadalupe Posada and the Mexican Penny Press. BAM’s Executive Director & Chief Curator, Ben Heywood, will then moderate a panel of local Posada experts, including art conservator Cynthia Dondisch, historian John Lear, and art historian Deborah Caplow.

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Panelist Bios

Deborah Caplow is a professor of art history at the University of Washington, Bothell, and has written the first book in English about the great Mexican printmaker, Leopoldo Méndez (Leopoldo Méndez: Revolutionary Art and the Mexican Print). Méndez was a founding member of the printmaking collective, the Taller de Gráfica Popular, and is widely acknowledged as the first printmaker to incorporate the influence of Posada in his work. She has also written numerous articles on the subject of Mexican printmaking, and her is current research focuses on the graphic art of Oaxaca. She has traveled widely in Mexico and loves Mexican art of all times and places.

Cynthia Dondisch was born and raised in Mexico City. An artist, art conserver, and art history teacher. She holds a Licenciatura in advertising from Universidad de la Comunicacion, and a Masters in Museum Studies from The George Washington University. She has done conservation treatments and preventive conservation for works on paper, ceramic, wood and paintings from renowned Mexican artists Juan O’Gorman and Sergio Hernandez. Cynthia is a former art history teacher and Assistant Principal at the Colegio Israelita ORT in Mexico City. She previously worked at the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute doing research and conservation for the Anthropology department at the Natural History Museum and was part of the curatorial team behind the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History exhibit Bon Appetite! Julia Child’s kitchen. She has special interest in prints and conservation of paper from XVIII and XIX century in Mexico including the work of Posada.

John Lear got his Phd at UC-Berkeley in Latin American history in 1993 and has been teaching ever since at the University of Puget Sound. His second book considered social mobilization in Mexico City during the Mexican Revolution, and featured a print by Posada on the cover. His most recent book considers the relationship between artists and unions and their representations of workers in the two decades following the revolution. Posada’s portrayal of the working class provides an initial chapter and casts a long shadow in the rest of the book.