Charreada Warm Up

Al Rendón, Charreada Warm Up, 1981, printed 2015, gelatin silver print, image: 14 ³⁄₈ × 18 ¹⁄₄ in. (36.5 × 46.4 cm) sheet: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center, 2016.6.1, © 1981, Al Rendón

Artwork Details

Title: Charreada Warm Up
Artist: Al Rendón
Date: 1981, printed 2015
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: image: 14 ³⁄₈ × 18 ¹⁄₄ in. (36.5 × 46.4 cm) sheet: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
Copyright: © 1981, Al Rendón
Credit Line: Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center
Mediums Description: gelatin silver print
Classifications: Photography
Subjects: Landscape
Animal — horse
Figure male — full length
Ceremony — festival — rodeo
Object Number: 2016.6.1
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2016.6.1

Artwork Description

In the 1980s, Al Rendón began documenting the elaborate performances and dress of the San Antonio Charro Association in Texas (est. 1947), which was the first established organization of competitive Mexican American horsemen and women in the United States. He captures the traditions of charros and charras, whose equestrian feats are rooted in Spanish and Mexican ranch culture, which emerged in the sixteenth century when the Spanish introduced horses and cattle to the Americas. U.S. cowboy culture is an outgrowth of this history. Hints of our contemporary world creep into Rendón's photographs, suggesting how these traditions live in the present. Some photographs undermine Mexican "bandito" stereotypes common in racist "cowboy and Indian" films. His photographs assert charro customs as fixtures in the U.S.--Mexico borderlands.

Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea, 2023