Petticoats

Just a brief post to highlight a little-discussed detail of Mexican women's dress in the early-19th century. The petticoat, or enagua, was usually made of woolen fabric with a lighter weight fabric attached to the top. Both the top and bottom panels of the petticoat were made of a single length of fabric, unlike European and American petticoats which were made of several pieces of fabric sewn together along their selvedges. The lighter weight fabric at the tops of Mexican petticoats made it easier to gather it into a waistband. 

 Here is is a detail from the print "Trajes Mexicanos." This print was published as part of the album México y Sus Alrededores. Coleccion De Vistas Trajes y Monumentos, published 1855-1857. An online, high resolution copy of this print is available from the New York Public Library: https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/.../mxico-y-sus... We have to assume that the drawings for these prints were made before 1855, of course.

 As we can see from this print, the lighter weight fabric (usually cotton, but also linen or silk) at the top of this woman's petticoat is split from top to bottom. There was a matching split on the opposite side. Notice how this side opening has little laces on either edge, perhaps of green ribbon, that are tied together to close it. It is likely that this same use of side openings in the petticoat was used in the 1700s as well. 

 

Turkey Day

 

I have posted this lively painting by the Mexican artist Arrieta because it is not only a great example of a traditional Mexican kitchen, but because today is Thanksgiving in the United States. For that reason, I wish to focus on the turkey on the right side of the picture. Though this bird is being petted by a young lady, the fact that another woman is grinding chocolate leads me to the conclusion that the turkey is not long for this world, and turkey mole is on the menu [https://www.foodnetwork.com/.../turkey-mole-recipe-2119509].*

 

Though turkey is the central dish in most American Thanksgiving dinners, many of us don't realize that our modern turkey dinner owes something to Mexico. Turkeys are called "guajolote" or "pavo" in Mexico, which is where the Spanish first encountered these New Word birds. The reason we call them by the same name as a Middle Eastern nation is that after the Spanish took some turkeys home with them, they spread first through the Mediterranean, including the Ottoman Empire, and then to Europe. English merchants applied the name "Turkey" first to guinea fowl and later turkeys that they imported from Islamic lands in the Mediterranean to the British Isles. Naturally, when English colonists in North America encountered this same bird, they applied the same name, "turkey," by which they knew them at home.

So, this Thanksgiving, let's remember Mexico's role in introducing turkeys to the world. Happy Thanksgiving!

 

*This is a nice turkey mole recipe that seems to me to be rather traditional, but if anyone has a better one, please share.

Saddles of Gold Rush California

 

The market for new saddles in Gold Rush California was great, much too great to be satisfied by the just the Californio craftsmen who were found in some pueblos and ranchos during the late Mexican era - that is, before 1847. And while some of those same local saddle makers probably kept working during the early American era, or even found employment in the new American-owned workshops such as Main & Winchester, it is hard for me to see how the demand for riding gear could have been met in any other way than by using immigrant craftsmen, including Anglos. After all, mochila type saddles had been made in the United States, especially Missouri, since the 1820s.

 

 

What I find interesting about this daguerreotype taken during the Gold Rush is that the mochila (rectangular leather housing) on this horse shows the same tendency to slant further forward, over the shoulders of the animal, than it does over the rear. This is something we see in the earliest clear images of Californio saddles, and is preserved in mochilas we know were made during the American era. It seems likely, then, that in these early years at least these foreign craftsmen were copying, nearly exactly, the Californios' saddles.

 

 

*A comment by a member of my Facebook group "The Arts and Skills of the Spanish Borderlands" [https://www.facebook.com/groups/651245652872223] notes that the saddle is placed too far forward on the horse's back, which is evident from the position of the girth. Californio saddles' girths should go around the middle of the horse's belly, and not so forward as seen here.

 

In this complete saddle from the California's early American period, we see the same forward slant to the front edge of the mochila. Please note that the saddle's rigging straps are mistakenly displayed over the mochila rather than under it, as they should be. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maynard Dixon - Illustrator

 

I could show so many images by one of my favorite artists, Maynard Dixon (1875-1946), and hope to create a post someday just about his most iconic oil paintings. But for now I'll limit myself to some of his illustrations. 

 

 

 Isabel Porter Collins. Portrait of Maynard Dixon ca. 1895. California Historical Society

 

Lafayette Maynard Dixon was born in Fresno, California, the son of a Confederate Army officer from Virginia. His mother was the daughter of a U.S. Navy officer. As a young man, Maynard Dixon studied art in San Francisco, then traveled through Arizona and Mexico, and later accompanied fellow artist Edward Borein on a horseback journey through several western states. 

 

 

Returning to San Francisco, he set up a studio and contributed paintings to numerous exhibitions and galleries.

 

 

 

As brilliant as he was as a painter, Dixon continued through much of his life to work as an illustrator to make a living. West Coast publications including Sunset Magazine and Touring Topics featured many of his illustrations, and Standard Oil was another of his clients.

 

 

 

Nearly all of Dixon's illustrations had Western themes, especially pictures set in California, Nevada, and Arizona, where he continued to travel and sketch, focusing particularly on the landscape and people of this region. He eventually settled in Arizona. 

 

 

Though his first love was painting, and he illustrated to make a living, nevertheless Maynard Dixon brought his superb artistry to every commercial assignment.