Artwork Details
- Title
- The Protagonist of an Endless Story
- Artist
- Date
- 1993
- Location
- Dimensions
- 72 x 57 7⁄8 in. (182.9 x 147.0 cm.)
- Markings
- lower left in red oil: Angel Rodriguez-Diaz 3-93 center horizontal stretcher bar verso in black ink: OIL ON CANVAS 7(written over 6)2" x 68" MB (written sideways) THE PROTAGON...
- Copyright
- © 1993, Angel Rodriguez-Diaz
- Credit Line
- Museum purchase made possible in part by the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool and the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- oil on canvas
- Classifications
- Keywords
- Portrait
- Landscape — plant
- Occupation — writer — poet
- Occupation — writer — novelist
- Portrait female — Cisneros, Sandra — knee length
- Object Number
- 1996.19
Artwork Description
Known for his richly textured and painterly style, Angel Rodríguez-Díaz spent the last several decades painting portraits of important cultural icons of San Antonio and the Southwestern United States. The "protagonist" of this painting is renowned Chicana novelist and poet Sandra Cisneros, best known for her debut novel, The House on Mango Street. Cisneros stands before a fiery sunset, dressed in a traditional Mexican skirt embroidered with sequined imagery that refers to her profession as a writer. Her commanding pose, reminiscent of historic European portraiture, proclaims that she will endure in her native landscape. In the work's title, as well as its composition, the artist asserts that Chicanx culture will not be erased.
Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea, 2023