Las sinfonías del Popocatépetl by Dr. Atl: A Stratigraphy from Text to Stencil

Abstract

In 1921 Editorial México Moderno published the book Las sinfonías del Popocatépetl [The Popocatepetl Symphonies] by the artist Gerardo Murillo, better known as “Dr. Atl”. The book consists of prose poems that explore the experience of living in the mountains organized as a dialogue with musical structure accompanied by a handmade cover. This article examines the different relationships between verbal, visual, and sound meanings featured in this project as an expanded proposal that involves other initiatives: Mexico Moderno Publishing Company and use of pochoirs (stencils) as Atl’s banner in the publishing world. Exchange networks between the artistic world and the Mexican publishing field in the modernisms of the early decades of the twentieth century will be brought to light in this case study.