Mexicali Rose: Tooled Leather Designs in Early California, Fact and Fiction - Part 2

 A.

From various surviving artifacts there appears to have been a style of leather tooling that was used in the California missions and by leather workers throughout California in the Mexican era, some of whom may have been former neophytes.

B.

C.

There is a confssional preserved at Mission Santa Inez that has a tooled leather seat. From the fact that it was recorded in the 1930s by the Index of American Design, I believe it could date to Mexican era California. For those who might not know, the Index was a Depression-era government program meant to record significant cultural artifacts and to keep artists employed. Its images are available through the National Gallery website and, though the identifications are nearly useless (this confessional seat is described as a "carpet"), you can sort them by items from California.

D.

What emerges are several pieces that seem to show a very consistent visual style that includes knots, parallel lines, diaper patterns, tear drops, and highly stylized flowers and foliage. 

E.

F.

G.

H.

Unfortunately, the website tells us nothing about who owned the objects when they were recorded in the 1930s but I've been assured by the National Gallery's archivist that I can look through the records and try to pin that information down the next time I'm in Washington, D.C. (which will have to wait until next year).

J.

The last image is one I've posted before, a mochila that I've been told dates from the 1850s. Nevertheless, I believe that the tooling displays many of the same decorative elements found on other leather objects connected with ante-gringo California.

People might be interested in using these design elements when recreating Californio artifacts, including saddles. I should note that the way the space is divided up on this mochila, with a "keyhole" in the center and more-or-less triangular shapes front and back is one that I've seen used as far back as Spanish Mexico.

Images:

A. Confessional, Mission Santa Inez, California

B. and C. Confessional seat, Mission Santa Inez

D. Confessional seat, Mission Santa Inez (Index of American Design)

E. Padre's sandal (Index of American Design)

F. Leather baptismal font cover (Index of American Design)

G. and H. Unidentified pieces of tooled leather (Index of American Design)

J. Mochila (Index of American Design)

Mexicali Rose: Tooled Leather Designs in Early California, Fact and Fiction

A.

I am a great admirer of Jo Mora as an artist, an illustrator, and an author. I really love his work and have for many years. However, I also believe that he is the source of quite a few misconceptions about early Californian material culture. One in particular is his interpretation of the kinds of leather tooling patterns seen in early California.

B.

Even though Mora must have had many opportunities to observe early examples of leather tooling that were present in museums, missions, and private collections, in his artwork he usually showed designs based on the kinds of work available in the 20th century - especially those featuring rambling, free-form compositions of naturalistic roses and foliage. See for example his illustration, "Juez de Campo," from his masterpiece work, "Californios, The Saga of the Hard-Riding Vaqueros, America's First Cowboys," (1949).

C.

I grew up in California and remember seeing this kind of work many times, particularly on a purse my mother bought in Tijuana in the 1940s. I still have that purse, though not a photograph of it. But it is very similar to the one I show here. Apparently Santa Barbara was also a center of this style of tooling by at least the early 1900s.

D.

However, I am convinced that very different styles of tooling were in use in Mexican era California (1822-1847) than the ones Mora so loved. The compositions found on imported items such as saddles and botas were much more stylized, often fitting into the framework of boundary lines and the motifs included symmetrical flowers, tear-drops, crescents, etc.

 E.

The rambling, naturalistic designs shown by Mora simply do not appear to have existed in either Mexico or California at this time, and probably nowhere else in the Hispanic West.

Shown here are a Sinaloan saddle said to date to the 1840s, but from the first half of the 19th century, more or less, I believe [https://www.cowanauctions.com/lot/mexican-sinaloa-saddle-on-a-jineta-pattern-tree-ca-1840-180253], my drawing of a bota in the collection of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (Sutter's Fort Costume Manual), and a coraza in the collection of Monterey State Historic Park.

Even simpler, more stylized designs are found on tooled leather that appears to have been made in "ante Gringo "California. More about that soon.

Images:

A. "Juez de Campo" by Jo Mora (1949)

B. Sinaloan Saddle, circa 1850 - Cowan's Auctions

C. Vintage Mexican Leather Purse, circa 1950

D. Imported Mexican Bota (Legging) - Sutter's Fort Costume Manual.

E. Tooled and Embroidered Saddle Cover (Coraza), Probably Mexican before 1860 (California State Parks)

A Smile of Recognition

 I've seen their work for years and admired it, but until I ran across their names in an old New York Times magazine article, I never put all of their work together. They are Adrie and Alfons Kennis, Dutch, and identical twins who produce the most lifelike and humane interpretations of prehistoric humans and other animals.

More than just exceptionally talented artists, they bring a humanity to this subject that I find extraordinary. There have been many others who have done this kind of work. I'm thinking especially of Zdeněk Burian, the Czech artist whose work must have helped inspire these two http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/burian.htm.

But few of them ever thought to have our earliest ancestors smile at us, as if in recognition.

The article describes the twins as "Hyperactive. Like rubber balls." And that energy seems to affect their work, as they fold layers of detail into every wrinkle, pore, and scratch on their figures.

They have also absorbed huge amounts of information about how non-modern societies around the world stand, sit, arrange their hair, paint themselves, and so on.

"All this variation!" Adrien shouted at the author of this article. "It's beautiful!"

After leaving the two, the author wrote, "It only registered later: I had spent the day with identical twins who, since childhood, have been stupified by how different human beings can be."

Here is a link to their website. I could hardly stop looking. http://www.kenniskennis.com/site/Home/