Francisco Mora
Mexican, 1922 - 2002El Obrero de Mina de Plata (Silver Mine Worker) from Mexican People portfolio, 1946
Not on view
Lithograph on paper
Dimensions17 9/16 × 15 1/8 in. (44.6 × 38.4 cm)
Image: 13 3/4 × 11 1/8 in. (34.9 × 28.3 cm)
Gift of Mr. Jack B. Pierson, 1987.31.2
For the portfolio introduction, Mora wrote:
"The cooperative that works the mine called "Dos Carlos" must make use of very mediocre facilities to do its work. The miners work in the veins traced by the former owners - veins which, as can well be imagined, are now very impoverished. Under these conditions, the workers receive a salary that barely covers the necessities of life. In spite of this hard reality, however, they keep going in the hope of discovering a rich vein, and the necessary credit with which to purchase the mechanical equipment to work it. The arches of the tunnels are so low that the miners must walk hunched over and sometimes crawl on their stomachs like reptiles. When the miners are asked why the tunnels are not made higher they answer frankly: "We cannot procure wood to secure the sides of the mine so we dare not open normal sized tunnels. Even so, we are under constant danger of being crushed or buried alive by an avalanche of rocks."
