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Luis Alfonso Jiménez Jr. (July 30, 1940 – June 13, 2006) was an American sculptor of Mexican descent.[1] Known for portraying Hispanic-American themes, his works have been displayed at the Smithsonian and at Denver International Airport.

Luis A. Jiménez Jr.
Born	(1940-07-30)July 30, 1940 El Paso, Texas
Died	June 13, 2006(2006-06-13) (aged 65) Hondo, New Mexico
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Texas
Known for	Fiberglass sculpture, prints

Education

Born in El Paso, Texas, he worked at his father's neon sign studio as a child.

He studied art and architecture at the University of Texas in Austin and El Paso, earning a bachelor's degree in 1964. He moved to New York City in 1966 after completing his post-graduate work at Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City, D.F.

He became an accomplished artist and taught art at the University of Arizona and later the University of Houston.

Artistry

Jiménez was known for his large polychromed fiberglass sculptures usually of Southwestern and Hispanic themes. His works were often controversial and eminently recognizable because of their themes and the bright, colorful undulating surfaces that Jiménez employed.

Jiménez was influenced by the murals of José Clemente Orozco and Diego Rivera. He was very much a contemporary artist whose roots were in pop art, as much as they were in both the modernism of the Mexican muralists and the regionalism of Benton and Grant Wood.[2] Heroic sculptures were Jiménez's forte, championing the common man in his work.[3] Working in his father's shop, making neon signs, as well as lowrider car culture, and featuring brightly painted fiberglass bodywork, were also artistic influences.[4]

Primarily a sculptor, he also created color lithographs and colored-pencil drawings. He would use preparatory drawings for his sculptures, which are made of fiberglass cast in a mold, then painted and coated with epoxy.[5] One art expert has noted, "There was no surface on any Luis Jiménez sculpture that was ever any less than six different colors, each airbrushed separately adding a slightly different tone." Jiménez would also often use flake, that glittery quality often seen on lowrider cars, in his paint.[6]

In 1993, Jiménez was a recipient of the New Mexico Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts.[7] In 1998 he received a Distinguished Alumni award from the University of Texas in recognition of his artwork.

Health

As a child, his left eye was shot by a BB gun. Surgeries corrected his vision, but he developed persistent migraines and got a glass eye later in life.[8]

As a young adult teaching art at junior high school, he was temporarily paralyzed from the chest down in a car accident.[5]

In his later years, he had a heart attack and required hand surgery.[8]

Death

On June 13, 2006, Jiménez died in an accident at age 65 in his studio in Hondo, New Mexico, when a large section of his 32-foot-high work Blue Mustang, intended for Denver International Airport, came loose from a hoist and severed an artery in his leg.[9][8]

Governor Bill Richardson ordered flags in New Mexico flown at half-staff June 15–16, 2006, in Jiménez's honor.[9]

Family

Jiménez's eldest daughter lives in New York, where she creates fashions designs.[10] His daughter Elisa is a multimedia artist and fashion designer and was a contestant on season four of Bravo's reality television series Project Runway.[11]

Works

• Man on Fire, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC, 1969
• Progress I, Albuquerque Museum, New Mexico, 1974[12]
• Progress II, Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas, 1976[13]
• Vaquero, Moody Park, Houston, Texas, 1980
• Sodbuster, Wichita State university as part of the Ulrich Museum of art outdoor sculpture collection, 1980–81
• Honky Tonk, Wichita State University as part of the Ulrich Museum, 1981
• Southwest Pieta, Longfellow Park, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1983 (declared a national treasure by President Bill Clinton in 1999)
• Howl, Albuquerque Museum, New Mexico and Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University, 1986[12]
• Border Crossing/Cruzando el Rio Bravo, Santa Fe, New Mexico,[14] Los Angeles, California, and Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas,[15] 1989
• Steelworker, Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama, 1990
• Los Lagartos, Downtown, El Paso, Texas, 1993
• Fiesta Jarabe, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1996
• Assyrian Lion, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, 2004
• Cleveland Fallen Firefighters Memorial, Cleveland, OH, 2006
• Blue Mustang, Denver International Airport, Denver, Colorado, 2008

Collections

See also

• History of the Mexican-Americans in Texas

References

• Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Luis Jimenez, Austin, Texas: Laguna Gloria Art Museum, 1983
• Landis, Moore, et al., "Man on Fire, Luis Jiménez, El Hombre en Llamas, The Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1994
• McHenry, Deni McIntosh. Luis Jiménez: Working-Class Heroes: Images from the Popular Culture, Kansas City, Missouri: Mid-America Arts Alliance, 1997
• Ramos, E. Carmen, "The Latino Presence in American Art," American Art 26 (Summer 2012): 7-13
• Storey, Natalie, Artist Dies in Studio Accident, The Santa Fe New Mexican, June 14, 2006, page 1

External links

• Stewart, Jocelyn Y. "Luis Jiménez Jr., 65; Artist Whose Sculptures Are on Public Display Nationwide," Los Angeles Times, Thursday, June 15, 2006.
• Smithsonian American Art Museum biography
• From the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art Image of Mesteño, smaller version of the sculpture that killed him.
• Johnson, Kirk. "And Behold a Big Blue Horse? Many in Denver Just Say Neigh," The New York Times, Monday, March 2, 2009.

На других языках

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- [en] Luis Jiménez (sculptor)

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[fr] Luis Jiménez (sculpteur)

Luis Jiménez, né le 30 juillet 1940 à El Paso (Texas) et mort le 13 juin 2006 à Hondo (Nouveau-Mexique), est un sculpteur américain.

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[ru] Хименес, Луис (скульптор)

Луис Хименес (исп. Luis Jiménez; 1940—2006) — американский скульптор мексиканского происхождения, также педагог. Считается пионером в области использования стекловолокна для создания скульптур[4]. Его работы находятся во многих музеях и городах США.

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