"History of People" by Antonio Mingote Automatic translate

For the first time, the ABC Museum exhibits 316 original works by writer, comedian and cartoonist Antonio Mingote as part of the Historia de la Gente exhibition.

Mingote was always honest in his work, he was not even stopped by the attacks of censorship of the 50s. The “History of People” exhibition begins the celebration of Mingote, which will last until September 2.

Antonio Mingote’s first hobby was painting, he dreamed of drawing both the Sistine Chapel and portraits of beautiful ladies in large collars. But his real passion was history. He simply swallowed any history book that fell into his hands. Mingote made a huge series of drawings of people of all ages with comments. The talent of Mingote reflected on paper the prehistoric era, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Crete and Mycenae, Greece, Rome, barbarians, Byzantium, Baroque, sewing machines, Islam, the railway, the Middle Ages, America, the Renaissance and not only. The choice was made taking into account the most common features in order to embrace the originality of people throughout history. All the drawings bear the seal of humor and sarcasm of Mingote, describing in this way a person and inhuman treatment of his own kind.

Antonio Mingote took the history of ancient people as an excuse to talk about the strange behavior of the individual, the stupidity of the crowd and great heroism, small successes and big mistakes. His goal was not to preach virtues. “Utopias do not like people, they are more boring than the reality of history, and, even worse, completely useless,” he said.

Mingote worked until the last day of his life, even in a hospital. He died in the spring of 2012. In Spain, an annual prize is awarded to his name for the best cartoonist.

Anna Sidorova