Object Details
- Artist
- Melesio Casas, born El Paso, TX 1929-died San Antonio, TX 2014
- Gallery Label
- Humanscape 62 satirizes the trivialization of brown cultures--both Mexican and Indigenous--in American advertising. Melesio Casas depicts the Frito Bandito (a racist cartoon mascot of the Frito-Lay Company) as part of a Mesoamerican jade pendant. He juxtaposes this with images of American Indian and Mexican American people, a Brownie Girl Scout, and a tray of brownies, labeling them all "Brownies of the Southwest."
- A central figure of the Chicano arts movement, Casas created Humanscape 62 the year Frito-Lay began to phase out its use of the character in response to lobbying by Chicano activists. The painting both documents the character's existence and confronts the power of mass media to shape and perpetuate cultural stereotypes.
- Credit Line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
- Copyright
- © 1970, the Casas Family
- 1970
- Object number
- 2012.37
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Painting
- Medium
- acrylic on canvas
- Dimensions
- 73 x 97 in. (185.4 x 246.4 cm)
- See more items in
- Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
- Department
- Painting and Sculpture
- On View
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, 3rd Floor, North Wing
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Topic
- Indian
- Dress\uniform\scout uniform
- Object\foodstuff\brownie
- Record ID
- saam_2012.37
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk7e39cae3c-3472-447e-8a6d-f2329b2df62e
