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United Farm Workers (UFW)
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César Chávez
title César Chávezdescription Lithograph on paper, 31 in. x 22.5 in. Chicano artist Luis Jiménez created a portrait of famous Chicano activist César Estrada Chávez (1927 – 1993), an iconic figure in the American civil rights movement. Jiménez captured Chávez’s humble nature, his gritty determination, and his silent power; his lips parted, he appears to be speaking directly to the viewer. Chávez organized protest marches to demand labor rights for Mexican and Chicano migrant farm workers. Along with Dolores Huerta, he organized the United Farm Workers (UFW) in 1962, the first Mexican American labor group to be recognized by the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations). To garner support from American consumers, Chávez mounted a nation-wide boycott of iceberg lettuce and grapes. A pacifist inspired by Gandhi, Chávez practiced nonviolent resistance in his protests, and he fasted to gain public sympathy for the UFW and its fight for labor rights. His protests and speeches inflamed growers, and he received countless death threats. His constant fasting vigils may have weakened his health, and he died of natural causes. Tens of thousands of mourners attended his funeral, where he was called an American hero-martyr. César Chávez Day (March 31, his birthday) is a U.S. federal commemorative holiday, as proclaimed by President Barack Obama in 2014. Proud of his Chicano roots, Luis Jiménez (1940 – 2006) was an El Paso, Texas native, best known for his large-scale, brightly colored sculptures immersed in the Chicano iconography of Texas and New Mexico. Jiménez studied art and architecture at The University of Texas in Austin and El Paso. He eventually traveled to Mexico to study the famous Mexican muralists Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, and was also influenced by regionalists Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood. After completing school, he went to work for his father making neon signs and car decals. In 1966 Jiménez moved to New York and joined the Pop Art scene, making painted fiberglass figurative works inspired by the everyday lives of Latinos living in the Southwest. His work shows his concern for working-class people and those who have suffered from discrimination. Jimenez was and remains respected in Latino communities for his perspective and narrative of the culture of Mexico and the Southwest. His artwork emulates popular Cholo car culture, demonstrated in his use of fiberglass, spray paint, and imagery consisting of Aztec emperors, border crossing, and vaqueros riding wild broncos. His works are in the collections of the Albuquerque Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., the El Paso Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, among others.artist/creator Jiménez, Luissubject Chávez, César, 1927-1993 Borderlands Frontera Activism Politics in art Agriculture United Farm Workers (UFW) Lithographs Prints Portraits Life and Experiences in the U.S./Mexico Borderlands (exhibition)contributor Mexic-Arte Museum (MAM) -
Lechuga Lucha
title Lechuga Luchadescription Lithograph over color serigraph on tan woven paper, 30 in. x 22.5 in. Headless horseman holding a flaming head of lettuce and looming over his boss who cowering a lettuce field. Image is joined with the text, "Lechuga Lucha!" "Let us Fight!" In this print, a headless rider, wearing a red poncho emblazoned with the UFW (United Farm Workers) logo, encourages migrant farm workers to fight for their labor rights, as a frightened grower cries out, “Joaquin!” The artist references I Am Joaquin, or Yo soy Joaquin, composed by Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales in 1967, a famous epic poem associated with the Chicano Movement. In the poem, Joaquin (the narrator) speaks of the struggles that the Chicano people have endured to gain economic justice and equal rights in the U.S., as well as to find an identity of being part of a unique Chicano culture. He promises that his culture will survive, if all Chicano people unify and demand social justice. The poet Gonzales outlines 2000 years of Mexican and Chicano history; he traces both his ancestry to the Spanish conquistadors and the Aztecs they "conquered.” He also identifies with revolutionary figures of Mexican history, such as Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Benito Juárez, Pancho Villa, and Joaquin Murrieta who was a legendary Californian vaquero and gold miner known for seeking retribution against the Anglo-Americans invaders who hanged his brother and killed his wife. Joaquin Murrieta eventually was captured by a bounty hunter and beheaded. Known as the “Robin Hood of the West,” Murrieta later inspired the creation of the Cisco Kid and Zorro. In 1969, the poem was adapted into a short film by Luis Valdez, a leading figure in Chicano theater and film.artist/creator García, Eric J.subject Borderlands Frontera Lettuce Fighting United Farm Workers (UFW) Lithographs Screen prints Prints Allegory Life and Experiences in the U.S./Mexico Borderlands (exhibition)contributor Mexic-Arte Museum (MAM) -
Dolores
title Doloresdescription Barbara Carrasco, Dolores, 1999, screenprint on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Frank K. Ribelin Endowment, 2020.22.7, © 1999, Barbara Carrascoartist/creator Carrasco, Barbarasubject Reformer Chicanas Huerta, Dolores, 1930- Activism Chicana feminism Portraits Prints Image and text United Farm Workers (UFW) Womencontributor Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM)