Alfredo Zalce
Mexican, 1908 - 2003Los Obreros de Madera (Lumber Workers) from Mexican People portfolio, ca. 1945
Not on view
Lithograph on paper
Dimensions15 1/16 × 17 3/4 in. (38.3 × 45.1 cm)
Image: 11 3/8 × 13 3/4 in. (28.9 × 34.9 cm)
Gift of Mr. Jack B. Pierson, 1987.31.11
Lumber was economically valuable to the Yucatan peninsula in colonial-era Mexico. To transport lumber a system of ditches and canals were built. Workers were tasked with demanding physical labor in precarious situations, either balancing on logs while they cut the lumber or waist deep in waters where they were exposed to disease carrying mosquitos. Working conditions in the lumber industry was similar to those of a hacienda; indebted laborers working for paltry wages.
Alfredo Zalce began studying art at the age of sixteen at the San Carlos Academy, where he studied with Diego Rivera. A founding member of the Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios (LEAR), Zalce also served as the liaison to the provinces. On one of these missions he came to the realization that art was to be in service of the rural poor and working class. He joined the TGP in 1937.
