modeled 198/cast 1990

—acrylic urethane, fiberglass, and steel armature —

Vaquero
modeled 1980/cast 1990
acrylic urethane, fiberglass,
and steel armature

Luis Jiménez
born El Paso, Texas 1940-
died Hondo, New Mexico 2006

Gift of Judith and Wilbur L. Ross Jr., Anne and Ronald Abramson, and Thelma and Melvin Lenkin

Conservation was supported by the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and its Advisory Committee.

Luis Jiménez began making monumental sculptures in the midst of the Latino civil rights movement. He dedicated himself to contemporary subjects that represented a racially diverse and working class America. Vaquero, which means cowboy in Spanish, is one of his most celebrated works.

Jiménez's Vaquero depicts an anonymous Mexican American cowboy in colorful and glossy fiberglass, a material often associated with low riders and hot rods. Jiménez intentionally titled his sculpture Vaquero to emphasize the Spanish and Mexican roots of the classic American icon. "Spaniards brought cattle and horses [to North America]," the artist once stated, "and Mexicans developed the whole notion of being cowboys." The artists thought it was especially fitting that Vaquero came to permanently reside in the nation's capital,



a city known for its abundant equestrian public sculpture.

Image caption:
Luis Jiménez with his sculpture, Vaquero, at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Sculpture ©1980 Luis Jiménez. Photo by Gene Young.

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