El Iris
Issue 14, 3 May 1826
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| Discipline | Literature and fashion |
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| Language | Spanish |
| Edited by | Claudio Linati, Fiorenzo Galli and José María Heredia |
| Publication details | |
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Publication history
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February–August 1826 |
| Frequency | Twice weekly |
El Iris was a short-lived periodical that was published between February and August 1826 in the newly independent Republic of Mexico. It was founded as an illustrated literary review, with topics of interest to women. It included articles on poetry, theater and fashion, as well as portraits and biographies of heroes of the recent war of independence. The editors held radical political opinions. El Iris published the first political cartoon in Mexico, named "Tyranny". Due to the political controversy stirred up by articles in the journal it was forced to close after printing forty issues.
The journal was established by Italian artists Claudio Linati and Florencio Galli, and the Cuban poet José María Heredia y Heredia. The two Italians had been involved in the unsuccessful struggle for Italian unity in 1820-21, and then had moved to Catalonia. Galli moved to Mexico after the Spanish liberal regime had fallen. He had arrived by January 1825, and worked for a while in the silver mines of Tlalpujahua. Linati moved first to France and then to Belgium, where he had received permission to move to Mexico, planning to start a lithography shop. He arrived in September 1825. Heridia was from Santiago de Cuba. He had been involved in the Matanzas conspiracy for Cuban independence and had taken refuge in the United States. He reached Mexico in August 1825, invited by President Guadalupe Victoria.
Linati expected to "civilize" and politicize the newly liberated Mexican people. He established his printing shop at Calle de San Agustín # 15 in Mexico City in January 1826 with two presses, one for typeface and one for lithographs. An advertisement for the new journal appeared in the Mexican newspaper El Águila on 13 January 1826, saying it would offer a pleasant distraction to all interested in letters, particularly the fair sex. The first issue appeared on 4 February 1826, in a 14 by 18 centimetres (5.5 by 7.1 in) format. The magazine was published weekly at first, and then twice a week.
The magazine included articles on poetry, the theater, Mexican customs, biographies and court cases. Lithographs depicted antiquities and modern fashions. It also provided portraits of Guadalupe Victoria, José María Morelos and Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, heroes of the independence struggle. The first issue included an illustration called "The Figurine" by Claudio Linati showing a woman dressed in the style of the French Republic, said to be the first colored lithograph made in Mexico. In the accompanying article Linati proposed that Mexican women should adopt the simple Republican garments, which would allow them to move freely, rather than the traditional Spanish dress and mantilla. Issue 34 contained a lithograph of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla by Linati's assistant José Gracida, the first lithograph by a Mexican to be published.
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Wikipedia