Hundreds of Hispana and Hispano artists in New Mexico created works of art for the various New Deal programs, but until now they have been mostly nameless, "sin nombre." Though many people told her she wouldn't find any artists, Tey Marianna Nunn dug deep into archives and uncovered a wealth of material: artists who made paintings, murals, sculpture, furniture, or who worked in metal, weaving and fiber arts. This book shows that as a result of Eurocentric aesthetic values, rigid art historical categories, and racial prejudice, New Mexico artists were stereotyped and labeled craftsmen. Their work was classified not as art but as handicraft or labor.
An exhibit at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, which opened in June 1999, brought to the public a major selection of artists working in New Mexico under New Deal programs and inspired other artists and family members to come forward to identify themselves and their artwork. The artists who are still alive are now mostly in their eighties or older.
This beautiful book restores an important chapter in American art of the 1930s and 1940s to the public record and brings long overdue recognition to a generation of New Mexico artists.
Tey Marianna Nunn, a native New Mexican, is curator of contemporary Hispano and Latino collections at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe.
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