"They gave me my first notion..." from "Recollections of Childhood" suite

Jose Luis Cuevas

One of twelve original lithographs created by Jose Luis Cuevas for the portfolio Recollections of Childhood. Printed on heavy, buff Arches wove, the sheets were issued loose in a black cloth portfolio with text by Cuevas, translation by Dr. Ralph E. Dimmick. Published in Los Angeles by The Kanthos Press, 1962.

In 1963 ArtForum magazine published Cuevas' essay, written in 1962, from which he drew these images. The paragraph that inspired this image read:

"The first thing that particularly attracted my attention was a collection of dolls that hung from my crib. They had been bought at the market. They were part puppet, part reincarnation of ancient gods or legendary heroes. I am almost sure that they registered on my memory shortly after my first birthday. They represented nuns, bullfighters, skeletons and the llorona—the weeping woman who steals the children she could not have herself. All were broad of trunk and thin of limb. They gave me my first notion of how the human body is put together."