José Guadalupe Posada in the context of Literary Calavera

Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative. The makers of folk art are typically trained within a popular tradition, rather than in the fine art tradition of the culture. There is often overlap, or contested ground with 'naive art'. "Folk art" is not used in regard to traditional societies where ethnographic art continue to be made.

The types of objects covered by the term "folk art" vary. The art form is categorised as "divergent... of cultural production ... comprehended by its usage in Europe, where the term originated, and in the United States, where it developed for the most part along very different lines."

Ireneo Paz Flores (1836–1924) was a Mexican liberal intellectual, writer and journalist, who is the grandfather of the Nobel Prize-winning Mexican writer Octavio Paz. He was born July 3, 1836, in Guadalajara, Mexico. In 1861 upon completion of his college studies, he was licensed to practice law. He married Rosa Solórzano. Their children included: Octavio (Sr.), Arturo, and Amalia. He died in Mixcoac in 1924. During his tenure as editor of La Patria Ilustrada, he became the first regular employer of famed Mexican cartoonist José Guadalupe Posada. Among Paz' numerous writings were works on the legendary California bandit Joaquin Murrieta, and the near-legendary historical figure Malinche.

Mr. Paz wrote 35 books which included different genres such as fiction, play-writing, comedy, memoirs and poetry.

A calavera (Spanish – pronounced [kalaˈβeɾa] for "skull"), in the context of the Day of the Dead, is a representation of a human skull or skeleton. The term is often applied to edible or decorative skulls made (usually with molds) from either sugar (called Alfeñiques) or clay, used in the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) and the Roman Catholic holiday All Souls' Day. Calavera can also refer to any artistic representations of skulls or skeletons, such as those in the prints of José Guadalupe Posada, or to gifts or treats in relation to the Day of the Dead. Some widely known calaveras are created with cane sugar, decorated with items such as colored foil, icing, beads, and sometimes objects such as feathers. They range in multiple colors.

Traditional methods for producing sugar skulls with molds have been in use for a long time, though the first known mention of the sale of skeletal figures dates to the 1740s. The sugar skulls were originally created as gifts, to be eaten by children. They are sometimes now used as offerings to be placed on altars known as ofrendas ("offerings") for Día de Muertos. It has been argued that the tradition has roots in indigenous celebrations, by groups including the Aztec, Mayan, and Toltec commemorations. It is also argued what we now call Day of the Dead is more Catholic than indigenous because the Spanish tried to eradicate indigenous religions, forcing most native traditions to hide behind the more similar Spanish ones. Moreover, as Stanley Brandes has argued, these skulls and skeletons have nine characteristics. They are: (1) ephemeral; (2) seasonal; (3) humorous; (4) secular; (5) commercial; (6) made for living people; (7) meant to be played with; (8) small and transportable; (9) made and consumed by an urban population. They are "lighthearted emblems of death."

La Calavera Catrina ("The Dapper [female] Skull") is an image and associated character originating as a zinc etching created by the Mexican printmaker and lithographer José Guadalupe Posada (1852–1913). The image is usually dated c. 1910–12. Its first certain publication date is 1913, when it appeared in a satiric broadside (a newspaper-sized sheet of paper) as a photo-relief etching.

In 1946–47, the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera (1886–1957) elaborated Posada's creation into a full-scale figure that he placed in his fresco "A Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Park" (now in the Museo Mural Diego Rivera). Whereas Posada's print intended to satirize upper class women of the Porfiriato, Rivera, through various iconographic attributes that referenced indigenous cultures, rehabilitated her into a Mexican national symbol.