Con las suegras, poco y bueno (With the Mother-in-Laws, Little and Good) n.d.

Curator: Let's take a moment to observe this fascinating print entitled "Con las suegras, poco y bueno," or "With the Mother-in-Laws, Little and Good." It’s by Manuel Manilla, and while it doesn’t have a specific date, we believe it originates from the late 19th century in Mexico. The print combines etching with typography on paper and resides in the Art Institute of Chicago's collection. Editor: It has such a strong graphic impact! The overall design, the busy layout—it evokes a sense of both folklore and social satire. There’s a stark duality between the written text and the roughhewn visual narrative above. Curator: Exactly! Manilla was known for his use of "hojas volantes," or broadsides, like this one, which circulated popular stories and social commentaries to a wide audience. The visual component of this example reflects strong currents of Mexican Muralism. It acted as a visual language accessible to everyone, despite their literacy level. Editor: Yes, I’m particularly drawn to the image at the top: it's seemingly a vignette depicting domestic strife—a daughter shielding her husband from a mother figure, while on the other side onlookers gesture and seemingly egg-on some physical altercations with bystanders nearby. There’s an underlying dark humor and clear suggestion of difficult familial relationships that persist across cultures. The symbolic weight of mother-in-law relationships is certainly palpable here! Curator: Absolutely. Manilla was really commenting on those everyday struggles but he was not beyond caricature. Notice also that above and below are rhyming verses, essentially acting like captions. In doing so he reinforced the didactic point for audiences, who perhaps chuckled and pondered the complex relationships illustrated here. It's about social norms and tensions within families—the universality of which probably contributed to the artwork’s broad appeal. Editor: It's quite brilliant how he manages to pack in a whole world of cultural symbolism and social commentary into one sheet of paper. One has to imagine just how many copies were made, distributed, and tacked up around the community—visuals and rhymes sticking with people long afterwards. Curator: It really encapsulates how art can serve a vital function outside the museum, acting as both entertainment and social commentary, a true mirror to society. Editor: A small page holding centuries of shared cultural understanding. Remarkable.