Sin Nombre: Hispana and Hispano Artists of the New Deal Era

by Tey Marianna Nunn

"An extremely competent overview of the state/civil society debate in political theory from the Greeks to the present."--Indian Review of Books"Restating the need for civil society, the author has... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0826323995
• ISBN13: 9780826323996
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 2.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 8.4" x 10.3"

Customer Reviews

Essential reading about New Mexico arts, from the soul of an insider

Today, when we think of art, we can't imagine a work without the artist's signature or some identifying mark, but in the 1930s, many women and men of New Mexico and southern Colorado worked without credit or recognition. Hispano and Hispana (men and women) worked "sin nombre," literally "without name." But they worked for the love of producing beautiful paintings and murals, fabric and textile art, tin work, and wood carving and furniture. And the love and knowledge of fine crafting shows in everything; much of this cultural legacy appears here in photographs for the first time. This book is a permanent monument to Southwestern Art and the people; it is a cultural and community achievement. The author, or central energy behind the project, Tey Marianna Nunn, has given us her own work of love and persistence--evidence of the will power necessary to recover the names of these nearly lost artists of the New Deal Era. In May 2001, at the Moroles Art Center in Los Cerrillos, (south of Santa Fe), I had the luck to attend a gathering of the remaining New Deal artists and workers of the Civilian Conservation Corps who told their stories. I feel sure that this revival of interest in the surviving New Deal and WPA artists came about because of Tey Nunn and her book. Thank you so much for the joy this book has brought over the years.

Must read for all who love the art of the SouthWest.

A few years ago, a brilliant and talented student found a gap in the recent art history of New Mexico. She went out and conducted the research, raised the money, wrote the PhD thesis, and then was curator for an exhibit at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe that identified and saluted the artists whose names had been lost in the dusty archives of our Great Depression and the resulting New Deal. The exhibit changed the lives of the artists still living and assured artistic credit for those who are no longer with us. How many of the thousands of PhD theses produced since Dr. Nunn wrote hers have had any impact, let alone a major impact on the lives of people? This beautiful book is climax to Dr. Nunn's efforts.Most people will never have the opportunity to be charmed and enlightened by a Dr. Nunn lecture. This book is a wonderful introduction to what a committed individual can do to make modern art history come alive. It is also a very useful introduction to the art of New Mexico created by the true artists of New Mexico, not the visitors (temporary or permanent) from other parts of the country. The Hispana and Hispano artists of the New Deal look straight at us from the pages of this book not for our approval but with pride in the art that they have created. Fortunately for us, Dr. Nunn, the Museum, and the University of Mexico Press have taken the time to reproduce this art to let us share in their joy of creation.