Home » Joseph Jacinto Mora

Jo Mora

Illustration Art of the American West

featuring

The Original Salinas Rodeo Carte

Evolution of the Cowboy 1933

Indians of North America 1936

Map of San Diego 1928

The Grand Canyon 1948

Joseph Jacinto Mora 1876 – 1947

Mora was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, and was the son of Domingo Mora, a well-known painter and sculptor who brought his family to the United States in the mid 1890s and then became a teacher in New York at the Art Students League. Joseph and his artist brother Luis Mora (1874-1940) grew up being much influenced by the creative atmosphere of their father’s studio. In 1904, he returned to Arizona and New Mexico and lived with Hopi and Navajo tribes, learning their languages and painting depictions of their ceremonies, especially the Kachina ceremonial dances. One of the results of his Western travels was a series of humorous maps that were spoofs of the national parks and that were made into posters. In the 1930s, the maps sold for 25 cents each and were distributed through souvenir shops at the parks. He also painted a watercolor series, “Horsemen of the West” and wrote two books, “Trail Dust and Saddle Leather” and “Californios.” Joseph Mora died in Pebble Beach on October 10, 1947. Devoting his life to exploration of subjects as diverse as vaqueros, Hopi Kachina figures, the Arizona landscape, and California missions, Joseph Mora also excelled as a writer, photographer, designer, children’s book illustrator, and map maker. (Zaplin Lambert Gallery)

“Apart from the bread and butter commissions that he referred to as “pot-boilers,” Mora has left a vast legacy of fine artwork. His contributions to public sculpture and architectural decorations, which are numerous and diverse, gaze calmly at the world from buildings in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Salinas, San Jose and Portland. Mora’s dioramas and large-scale figures are permanently in Monterey and Sacramento, California and Claremore and Bartlesville, Oklahoma. His drawings, paintings and photographs are cherished in private collections and private institutions across the country and first editions of his books are highly valued. But in the final analysis, Mora’s most important works may be his cartes.
In these entertaining maps, Mora combined his encyclopedic knowledge of history, his writing, drawing, and cartooning skills, his fine sense of design, and his sense of playfulness to create an art form uniquely his own. Mora’s cartes are still captivating more than fifty years after their completion, and they exemplify the popular, entertaining, direct, and informative art at which Mora excelled.”
Betty Hoag McGlynn

MONTEREY MUSEUM OF ART EXHIBITION CATALOG 1992

The cartes presented are the original 1933 Salinas Rodeo edition and the second edition which was redesigned with a more universal appeal by removing the section with reference to celebrating the Salinas Rodeo and adding a procession of cowboys and a chuck-wagon on a cattle drive or roundup. This gave the carte more appeal and made for a great souvenir of any rodeo. The cartes were printed by Arthur Fey of San Francisco on a four color sheet-fed press. The Cowboy print used a line cut process and is printed on an uncoated paper. The Indian print used photo engraving(offset lithography) and is printed on a semi-gloss paper.

Levi Strauss reprinted the carte in various formats in the early 1950s, as a souvenir and a large calendar, both with a banner announcing the “Levi’s Round-up of Cowboy Lore” and adding an advertisement insert where the cowboys and chuck wagon were. Sometime in the late 1950s they reprinted the carte when they redesigned their Levis logo. They removed the “LEVIS” and used a new branding with Levi’s inside the symbol. Both versions are presented below.

Salinas version and second version are 31 inches high by 25 inches wide.
Both Levi’s versions are 38 inches high by 25 inches wide.

One Pair for sale

Evolution of the Cowboy 1933
Indians of North America 1936
$9,000.00 for the pair

Evolution of the Cowboy 1933

Indians of North America 1936

This is a pair of mint cartes from the estate of Jo Mora Jr. They have been framed to archival standards with custom hand carved frames. These frames have copper gilded serpentine corners with faux hand carved grain along the frame and a deep mahogany finish. Mats have custom hand applied French line design. There are other frames profiles that are available. Complete images and close-up details of prints upon request. These are sold only as a pair. Please call 480-947-2787 for availability and additional details.