Agustín Lazo

Agustín Lazo was one of the painters of the so-called “group without a group”, which is to say, those gathered around the magazine, Contemporáneos. They were critical of the official nationalism that sought to unify Mexico’s cultural diversity. Additionally, they proposed not one but many nationalisms and sought to promote intimate and subjective cultural expression.

Lazo, a painter of intimate reality, presents us, in The Little Butcher, with a boy who displays a mature gesture. The figure holds the tools that are proper to his trade. His gaze does not engage the spectator directly; rather, it seems removed, isolating him from the hubbub of the market. One senses a kind of silence – a feeling that his activities have reached a still point – that permeates the scene.

The Little Butcher, the minute precision with which Lazo works the enormous, meaty hands emphasizes their contrast with the fleshy, sensual lips. Those lips speak of the elegant and innocent eroticism contained in the picture. Lazo’s treatment of the hands reveals his debt to Fernand Léger.

The depersonalization of his figures, through his use of mechanical volumes, finds a sense of balance by his providing them with an intimate dimension and with a sense of a soul that is close to our own and provides a good example of the kind of local flavor that is his hallmark of the avant-gardes in Mexico.