Artist

Jesse Treviño

born Monterrey, Mexico 1946-died San Antonio,TX 2023

Also known as: Jesse Trevino
Born: Monterrey, Mexico
Died: San Antonio, Texas, United States
Active in: San Antonio, Texas, United States

Biography: Treviño's family moved from Mexico to San Antonio, Texas, in 1948. Treviño earned an A.A. from San Antonio Junior College, a B.A. in art from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, and an M.F.A. in painting from the University of Texas at San Antonio. In 1987 he was honored with the National Hispanic Heritage Award as Artist of the Year.
Latino Art and Culture Bilingual Study Guide (Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1996)

Works by this artist (3 items)

Mis Hermanos

Artist

Jesse Treviño

Date1976

acrylic on canvas

Tienda de Elizondo

Artist

Jesse Treviño

Date1993

acrylic on canvas

Los Santos de San Antonio

Artist

Jesse Treviño

Date1980

limited offset print

Videos

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This audio podcast series discusses artworks and themes in the exhibition Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. In this episode, museum director Elizabeth Broun discusses Mis Hermanos by Jesse Treviño

BETSY BROUN: I’m Betsy Broun. I’m the Margaret and Terry Stent Director at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. I love so many of the artworks in the “Our America” exhibition, but one of my longtime favorites is a work by Jesse Treviño, a 70-inch wide painting that he did called “Mis Hermanos,” and it shows seven young men sitting and standing in front of a white fence with trees behind. It’s a very formal portrait. It appears that this image was made based on photographs. Each face is distinctive and a wonderful portrait of the individual, but what I love is the dynamic among these young men. I think three of them have their hands leaning on the shoulders of one of the others. They’re shown in a very casual way. They’ve got their sunglasses, they’re drinking drinks, they seem to be having a good time in the afternoon.

I’m particularly struck by the fact that he painted this in 1976 with his left hand. It seems that he was born in Monterrey, Mexico. He came with his family when he was four years old to live in San Antonio. He loved art and was in art school when he got a draft notice in 1966. You know, he could have gone to Paris. He could have left the country rather than report for duty, but he felt an obligation to serve and he went off to the Mekong Delta, where he encountered a horrible booby trap, and eventually his right arm, which was his painting arm, had to be amputated, so he taught himself to paint with his left hand. He says that when he was near death, he promised himself that if he recovered, he would paint the most important things in his world: his family, his home, his friends, and his community. So here he is just a few years later with this beautiful, large painting that he was able to accomplish after great difficulty and much pain, and yet you feel none of that in this painting. It feels joyful, it feels warm, it doesn’t feel angry or upset. It just feels like a band of brothers getting together on an afternoon in the sun, and it makes me feel both happy and sad at the same time to think of all that he’s had to overcome but all the accomplishment he managed despite that.

Exhibitions

Media - 2011.12 - SAAM-2011.12_1 - 77591

Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art

October 25, 2013–March 2, 2014

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art presents the rich and varied contributions of Latino artists in the United States since the mid-twentieth century, when the concept of a collective Latino identity began to emerge.

Artists Respond: American Art and the Vietnam War, 1965 – 1975

March 15, 2019–August 18, 2019

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Artists Respond: American Art and the Vietnam War, 1965-1975 makes vivid an era in which artists endeavored to respond to the turbulent times and openly questioned issues central to American civic life.

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Jesse Treviño

Works by this artist (3 items)

Videos

Exhibitions

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