*SOLD*
 
Pancho Villa recruiting poster
circa January, 1915
El Paso, Texas
 
Mexican Revolution broadside measuring 14" x 10.5''. Evenly toned within a matted board, otherwise a great example in a weathered frame. The images and message evoke heavy romanticism, and tugged at the ego and greed of adventure prone Americans dripping with machismo. A really gripping piece even to this day. Worthington's El Paso and the Mexican Revolution notes that these broadsides were made and posted in El Paso, resulting in many mercenaries joining Villa’s insurrectos.
 
One of the iconic names and figures of the early 20th century – the charismatic and brutal revolutionary osmotically solidified himself in the Mexican and Southwestern American psyche. To this day, he is an antihero of sorts to blue collar Mexicans for his fight in the cause of agricultural workers and peasants.
 
“Villa's myth escaped institutionalization in the years after the Revolution because of his powerful, volatile image, which was caught between the government's desire for authority and his heroic status among poor Mexicans. He was still the enemy, and he was not rewarded with official celebrations or monuments, as were many other revolutionaries. Today, of course, it is impossible to miss the public, official monuments to Villa, especially in Mexico City. Why this transformation? O'Malley proposes that Villa's journey to becoming an official myth began during the Cárdenas sexenio. Villa was officially ignored, but the Cárdenas administration ‘created an atmosphere which permitted more positive attention to Villa in the press. That improvement resulted from the administration's condemnation of Villa's enemies, Obregón and Calles, and from the ultra-right's adoption of Villa.’"(Day)