Primeros pasos [First Steps]

A French artist of Mexican ancestry, Jean Charlot settled in Mexico in 1921 and later moved to the United States. During the post-revolutionary period in Mexico, Charlot became deeply engaged in the efforts to valorize Mexican arts and traditions, helping revitalize the medium of printmaking, participating in the muralist movement, and writing numerous art historical texts. Charlot’s interest in the indigenous population of Mexico is reflected in much of his art. Here he depicts a mother supporting her young child with a “rebozo,” or traditional shawl, as he begins to walk. A child’s first steps were a recurrent theme in Charlot’s work.