Fiesta c. 1940s

Barbara Latham made this vibrant print, titled "Fiesta," using the medium of serigraphy, or silkscreen printing. It’s a process that really lends itself to strong colors and flat areas of tone, as we see here. Silkscreening involves pushing ink through a stencil supported by a fine mesh. Each color needs its own stencil, so the printmaker must carefully align them. In "Fiesta," Latham uses this technique to capture a lively scene, probably from the American Southwest. The flattened perspective and clear outlines give the image a poster-like quality, reminiscent of WPA prints from the same era. But unlike those works, which often focused on industrial labor or rural life, Latham celebrates leisure and community. This image showcases the fiesta as a moment of shared culture and tradition, even as it captures the energy of a fairground, with its bright colors, patterned textiles, and the swirling carousel in the background. What silkscreen does so well here is capture the joyful effect of vernacular creativity. Latham gives us a snapshot of a living culture, made permanent through the craft of printmaking.