Lot 139B
**First Time At Auction**
William Spratling (American, 1900-1967), pencil drawing of Cuernavaca, Mexico, 1929 CE. Signed, dated, titled, and finely drawn in pencil by William Spratling, the artist, author, and entrepreneur best known for his work as a silversmith and designer who revitalized Taxco, Mexico's silver industry in the early 20th century - a beautiful perspectival drawing of a street in Cuernavaca (note the two endearing chickens and single woman walking down the road) leading to a church and mountainscape beyond. "Spratling Cuernavaca 1929" is written in pencil at the bottom center. This drawing may have been created for Spratiling's book "Little Mexico" (1932) or poet Elizabeth Morrow's "Casa Manana" (1930). Size: image measures 11.875" L x 8.875" W (30.2 cm x 22.5 cm); 20" L x 16" W (50.8 cm x 40.6 cm) in matt
Spratling made his initial visit to Mexico in 1926, and returned each summer for the next several years. Finally, in 1929, Spratling actually moved to Mexico to be an expatriate, becoming an active member of the vibrant artistic circles of Mexico. Spratling promoted the art of none other than Diego Rivera (Mexican, 1886-1957) - the artist who would become the most famous of the Mexican Muralists - to New York galleries which led to Rivera's participation in the first exhibition of Mexican visual culture held in the United States, funded by the Carnegie Institute, that opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Not only did Spratling assist in curating the exhibition, but he also lent a number of his own pieces. During this same time period, Spratling was working on drawings for the expanding Morrow (US Ambassador to Mexico Dwight Morrow and his wife, the poet Elizabeth Cutter Morrow) home in Cuernavaca. Many of these drawings were included in the book written by Elizabeth Morrow entitled, "Casa Mañana" (Knopf, 1930). It was Ambassador Morrow who suggested that Spratling explore developing the silver jewelry in Taxco.
Provenance: private Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA collection
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#124487
- Condition: Perhaps a few minor creases in the paper, but overall excellent.
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