Cantina, Taxco

Stefan Hirsch

By the mid 1930s Stefan Hirsch had established his place as an American social realist, whose work had evolved from the layered, tonal style of Post-Impressionism to a more stylized, urban Abstraction informed by Cubism, Mexican modernists and contemporary Expressionism. A common thread remained between old and new: Hirch’s penchant for mood. Whether working in color or black and white, cityscape or figurative, he set a familiarity within every scene with his use of light and shadow.

The intimacy of a cantina in 1930s Taxco is simply but effectively portrayed in Hirsch’s image of an end-of-the-day gathering. The night is warm enough for patrons to stand outside, a flood of the light illuminating their figures, while the bright interior draws the viewer inside. Hirsch does away with minute detail to focus on architectural elements and the universal camaraderie of late night society.