The Mexican Revolution in Word and Image: Diego Rivera’s Illustrations of Los de abajo by Mariano Azuela

Riveras selected illustrations, which generally presented positive images of the revolutionaries rather at odds with the textual version, were eventually published in two art books, El arte moderno en México (RobredoPorrúa, 1937) and El arte moderno y contemporáneo de México (UNAM, 1952). How does the fact that the illustrations were first published in art books, divorced from Azuelas larger text, change a viewers experience and interpretation of the images? In Azuela's case, cultural prominence, as well as an extended debate about whether Los de abajo was indeed revolutionary, came about almost a decade after the book was first published. Perhaps the fraught political climate-as well as a lack of information about the shelving of the 1930 edition (evidence of which I could only find in Azuela's personal letters)-made contemporary critics and book editors hesitant to publish these illustrations.