Calavera of Francisco Madero, from Calavera Maderista

Described as “printmaker to the Mexican people,” illustrator José Guadalupe Posada was active in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He took advantage of inexpensive mass printing to distribute images to working class communities.

Posada was famous for his literary calaveras, satirical poems and illustrations. These accompany physical calaveras, human skull sculptures made from sugar or clay for Día de los Muertos. Posada used death to satirize elites with the reminder that even the mighty will eventually be reduced to bones.

In this calavera, Posada satirizes Mexican President Francisco Madero as inept and corrupt. Madero is identified by his beard, mustache, and bottle of Aguardiente de Parras—a reference to Madero’s family pulque brand.

Skulls frequently appear in precolonial Mesoamerican sculpture and text, symbolizing the cyclical nature of life and death. The calaveras of Día de los Muertos thus combine both Hispanic and Indigenous elements.