Taxco Market

Max Pollak

In the early 1940s the Pollaks traveled throughout Mexico and Latin America where Max recorded the everyday life of the residents and the architecture and landscapes of the regions, often using his favorite medium, etching and aquatint, the color for which he generally applied 'a la poupée.'

Max Pollak did this color intaglio while in Mexico around 1946. "Taxco Market" depicts the market place in the Mercado Tetitlan in the historical center of Taxco. Vendors display their ways while seated in the shade beneath the large Montezuma cypress trees. He selectively applies subtle color throughout the image so the viewer's eye is drawn from activity to activity.

Taxco is a beautiful colonial city perched on a steeply sloping hillside in Guerrero, Mexico. It is an ancient mining town which gained notoriety due to the production of beautifully designed sterling silver jewelry and objects for home use.