Sodbuster

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Sodbuster

Artist Luis Jimenez (American, 1940-2006)

Date1985

Dimensions(Sheet) H: 31 5/8 in. (80.3 cm); W: 45 1/4 in. (114.9 cm)

MediumColor lithograph

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineCarl B. Spitzer Fund

Object number

2004.63

Not on View

Label TextMexican-American artist Luis Jiménez celebrates the common man with images that portray labor as heroic. Sodbuster and Steelworker recall the 1930s “working-class heroes” of WPA (Works Progress Administration) artists as well as the politically charged paintings of workers by Mexican muralists such as Diego Rivera (1886-1957). Sodbuster also draws on the legend of the Spanish peasant, San Isidro (Saint Isidore), patron saint of farmers, who was thought to have a supernatural pair of white oxen to help him plough his fields. San Isidro has traditionally been a popular saint in the Latino community of the Southwest where Jiménez makes his home. Born in Texas to Mexican immigrants, Jiménez frequently conceives his figures in terms of ethnicity, social issues, and subject matter related to both his Mexican and his Southwestern roots. Both lithographs are based on his monumental fiberglass public sculptures of the same subjects.Exhibition HistoryPop Prints from the Toledo Museum of Art Collection: July 7 - Oct.8 2006