Vaquero

Date: modeled 1980/cast 1990
 * [[image:http://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=http://americanart.si.edu/images/1990/1990.44_1a.jpg&max=460 link="@http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=31943"]] || Title: **Vaquero**

Artist: **Luis Jiménez** Born: El Paso, Texas 1940 Died: Hondo, New Mexico 2006

Medium: acrylic urethane, fiberglass, steel armature Dimensions: 199 x 114 x 67 in. (505.5 x 289.6 x 170.2 cm.) Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of Judith and Wilbur L. Ross, Jr., Anne and Ronald Abramson, Thelma and Melvin Lenkin

Accession: 1990.44 || Luis Jiménez was born in Texas and grew up working with his father at the family's neon sign shop. Together they made neon flamenco dancers and men wearing sombreros for store fronts all over town. Luis then studied architecture and art at the University of Texas at Austin and received his BFA in 1964.
 * Exhibition Label: **

In the 1960s, he went to New York to work as an artist, during a period when “high” art was being transformed by popular culture, an approach that came naturally to him. After two exhibitions in New York's Graham Gallery, he returned to the Southwest in 1971. There he began to use subjects that evoke the region and his Mexican heritage.

Standing sixteen and a half feet high and made of fiberglass, Vaquero shows a Mexican-American cowboy on a bright blue high-kicking horse. The figure is so energized that it almost looks like an animated cartoon. Part hero, part Zorro, this sculpture has one foot in the old traditions of equestrian sculpture and another in popular culture.

In choosing this work for our front door, we had a lot of considerations. First, we loved the way the spiraling energy of the sculpture and the vivid colors worked against the severe classical columns of our building. Then, we thought this sculpture clearly signaled that our building was an art museum, not the Treasury Building or the Federal Mint. We thought it was good to use an image identified with part of America other than New York or Washington, or any place on the East Coast. After all, we are a national museum, and this is a role we take seriously.

As for saying "American" in a single image, what would work better than a cowboy? But by using a Mexican-American cowboy, we could also show that we know the original cowboys and their culture came from Mexico. After all, that's why we speak of lariats, corrals, chaparrals, and locoweed. Finally, it seemed about right to feature the work of a living, contemporary artist at our front door.

There are often disagreements about the interpretation of public sculptures. The commissioned Vaquero was originally installed in Moody Park in Houston's Latino area of town. Some residents loved the vigorous figure, others thought he looked like a stereotype of a drunken Mexican bandito. A big debate spilled over into the Houston papers about this in 1993. Some people feared the sculpture would be a "bad role model" for Latino youths. To this, a letter writer wrote, "Hogwash!…The Vaquero—good or bad—was no worse than many in history who conquered the West." Someone else saw in this figure "a reminder of our rugged individualistic ancestry. My great-grandfather was such a man." In Washington, the discussion about our nation's history and the heritage of our many different peoples has a special focus. That's probably the best reason for us to put this vaquero in front of our building.

Tragically, Jimenez was killed on June 13, 2006, in his studio, when a large sculpture of a mustang (intended for Denver International Airport) fell on him. The sculpture was based on the eight-foot-high sculpture Mesteño (Mustang), now on display at the University of Oklahoma. Upon the artist’s death, SAAM’s Deputy Chief Curator George Gurney observed the following: “Energy and substance. That's how I think of Luis's art and the man himself. His art had real meaning for him and he said it in a way that anyone could understand. He told stories both old and new in a fresh and vital way. Utterly baroque in form and vibrant color, his sculpture was modern in spirit and materials --arousing emotions and stimulating thought. Full, tactile, sensual, pulsating, fluid and expressionistic are all adjectives that come to mind for his sculpture and, one might add, his graphic art. A master draftsman and creative colorist. He was a "natural." I watched him mix colors at night in small paper cups under floodlights to repair the surface coating on his Vaquero at the museum; there was no hesitation, just a real pro at work.”

“As a man, Luis was like his sculpture. He had presence. His heart and emotions were real. There was nothing pretentious about him; he would introduce himself with a big smile as if no one knew who he was.”

“Generosity and kindness came easily to him. He wasn't exactly a snappy dresser, but what he did wear was obviously comfortable and reflected his character. There was a wonderful playfulness to his humor of which there was abundance yet often an underlying seriousness. I can hear him now starting off on a seemingly somber note --"You know..." --and then make some outlandish comment, followed by a pause, followed by a huge grin and laughter. Like a close friend, he'll be missed in many ways we can't even grasp right now.”

Signs and Symbols Guide Ask Joan of Art
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Artist Biography Jimenez Obituary "Mustang" finds home at DIA Blucifer, the Murderous Mustang of Denver Airport Eye Level: Luis Jiménez, 1940—2006 Meet me at Midnight SAAM Collections Page
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