ATLANTE II / GALANA ENMASCARADA, woodcut, Irving Herrera 2009

A commanding woodcut by Herrera from Oaxaca, transforming lucha libre into a sacred act of resistance.

AGUILA NEGRA is among the most emblematic works in Irving Herrera’s six-part series of masked feminine icons. In this monumental woodcut, a powerful figure — nude, tattooed with lines of ink, and crowned with earrings shaped like nopales — holds her own gaze beneath a lucha libre mask. Around her, the phrase “UNA BATALLA CUERPO A CUERPO” flows like a prayer or invocation, wrapping the body in text and meaning.

This piece merges the aesthetic strategies of traditional Mexican woodcut — bold contours, carved textures, and political framing — with a contemporary poetics of the body. The figure is at once vulnerable and militant, adorned with symbols (a star, thorns, the mask) that invoke both struggle and divinity. The yellow screen-printed background, floral and radiant, lends an aura of sanctity to the scene.

Printed in Oaxaca in 2009, this is number 5 in a rare edition of 10, hand-signed and embossed with Herrera’s studio seal. It stands as a cornerstone of his visual language — part revolutionary poster, part devotional icon.

Technical Sheet

• Object: Woodcut print (framed)
• Title: AGUILA NEGRA
• Artist: Irving Herrera
• Date: 2009
• Technique / Printing Method: Woodcut with screen-printed color
• Medium / Materials: Black and yellow ink on cotton paper
• Edition: 5/10
• Signed: Yes (pencil, lower right)
• Framing: Black wooden frame with glass
• Dimensions: 112 × 76 cm (sheet)
• Condition: Excellent
• Provenance: Direct from artist’s studio, Oaxaca