Carlos Vierra
Encyclopedia
Carlos Vierra was an American painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

, illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

 and photographer of Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....

 descent.

Early life

Carlos Vierra was born and raised in Moss Landing, California
Moss Landing, California
Moss Landing is a census-designated place in Monterey County, California, United States. Moss Landing is located on the Pajaro Valley Consolidated Railroad north-northeast of Monterey, at an elevation of 10 feet . As of the 2010 census, the CDP population was 204, down from 300 at the 2000...

 near Monterey by his father, Portuguese sailor, Cato Vierra and his mother, Maria de Fratas. Vierra went to school in Monterey, California and had a hard time deciding between a life at sea and art. He studied art at the Mark Hopkins Institute (now part of the San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Art Institute is a school of higher education in contemporary art with the main campus in the Russian Hill district of San Francisco, California. Its graduate center is in the Dogpatch neighborhood. The private, non-profit institution is accredited by WASC and is a member of the...

) under Gottardo Piazzoni
Gottardo Piazzoni
Gottardo Fidele Piazzoni was a Swiss-born American landscape painter, muralist and sculptor of Italian heritage, a key member of the school of Northern California artists in the early 1900s....

 in the 1890s, until he was twenty-five. Wanting to further his studies, Vierra took a six-month trip around Cape Horn to New York City. Once there, he worked hard to become an illustrator, a growing artistic field. In time, his art began to comfortably sustain him, though only for a short time. In 1904, at age twenty-eight, Vierra contracted tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

 and, at the advice of his doctor, relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...

. Vierra decided to live in a remote, small cabin along the Pecos River
Pecos River
The headwaters of the Pecos River are located north of Pecos, New Mexico, United States, at an elevation of over 12,000 feet on the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County. The river flows for through the eastern portion of that state and neighboring Texas before it...

. When his health was not improved, he was forced to get help from the Sanitarium.

New Mexico

Vierra was Santa Fe's first resident artist and was one of the first three "members" of the Santa Fe Art Colony. He was a strong advocate for preserving landmark buildings and for making sure that new buildings were in the style that is so unique to Santa Fe. That style is now known as the Pueblo Revival Style architecture
Pueblo Revival Style architecture
The Pueblo Revival style is a regional architectural style of the Southwestern United States which draws its inspiration from the Pueblos and the Spanish missions in New Mexico. The style developed at the turn of the 20th century and reached its greatest popularity in the 1920s and 1930s, though it...

. It was at the Sunmount Sanatarium, a restorative institution for tubercular consumption, where Vierra met architect John Gaw Meem
John Gaw Meem
John Gaw Meem IV was an American architect based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is best known for his instrumental role in the development and popularization of the Pueblo Revival style...

 and others who influenced each other and made sure the Pueblo Revival style of Santa Fe was preserved. The first houses in 1925 and 1926 that John Gaw Meem
John Gaw Meem
John Gaw Meem IV was an American architect based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is best known for his instrumental role in the development and popularization of the Pueblo Revival style...

 designed show a clear debt to his mentor, Carlos Vierra. In 1909, the School of American Archaeology's director, Edgar Lee Hewett
Edgar Lee Hewett
Edgar Lee Hewett, D.Sc., was an archaeologist/anthropologist active in work on the Native American communities of New Mexico and the southwestern United States, and most famous for his role in bringing about the Antiquities Act, a pioneering piece of legislation for the conservation movement...

 appointed Vierra to manage the building of the New Mexico Museum of Art
New Mexico Museum of Art
The New Mexico Museum of Art , the oldest art museum in the state of New Mexico, is one of four state-run museums in Santa Fe...

 (formerly the Museum of Fine Arts). Hewett also allowed him to have an influential role in restoring the Palace of the Governors
Palace of the Governors
The Palace of the Governors is an adobe structure located on Palace Avenue on the Plaza of Santa Fe, New Mexico between Palace Avenue and Washington Street. It is within the Santa Fe Historic District and it served as the seat of government for the State of New Mexico for centuries...

, the oldest capitol building in the United States. Additionally, he painted three murals in the St. Francis Auditorium. In 1914, Frank Springer commissioned Vierra to paint each of the pueblo mission churches. These and other paintings would show both Spanish and Pueblo traditional New Mexico architecture. In 1918, after he wrote, "‘See Santa Fe First.’ There is a reason [to do so] in our rare climate, in our wonderful surroundings and in what is left of historic Santa Fe. Are we going to destroy what is left…or are we going to build in keeping with it?" Vierra began construction on a pueblo style home for his family on Old Santa Fe Trail. It is considered the first residence built in the Spanish Pueblo Revival Style architecture
Pueblo Revival Style architecture
The Pueblo Revival style is a regional architectural style of the Southwestern United States which draws its inspiration from the Pueblos and the Spanish missions in New Mexico. The style developed at the turn of the 20th century and reached its greatest popularity in the 1920s and 1930s, though it...

. The home was funded by Frank Springer, who was a patron
Patrón
Patrón is a luxury brand of tequila produced in Mexico and sold in hand-blown, individually numbered bottles.Made entirely from Blue Agave "piñas" , Patrón comes in five varieties: Silver, Añejo, Reposado, Gran Patrón Platinum and Gran Patrón Burdeos. Patrón also sells a tequila-coffee blend known...

 of the arts.

Other achievements

Vierra was commissioned and executed Six murals of Mayan cities for the 1915 Panama–California Exposition in San Diego. The 35mm reproductions of his murals can be seen on an interior wall of the Museum of Man
San Diego Museum of Man
The San Diego Museum of Man is a museum of anthropology located in Balboa Park, San Diego, California and housed in several historic landmark buildings.-Exhibits:...

, Balboa Park, San Diego. In addition to his illustrating and painting, Vierra opened his own photography studio on the west side of the Santa Fe Plaza
Santa Fe Plaza
Mirroring the traditional Spanish-American colonial cities, the Santa Fe Plaza is a National Historic Landmark in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico. The plaza, or "city-square", was originally, and is still to this day, the center gathering place in town, or as many know it "the heart of Santa Fe." The...

, which he purchased for $280 from J.B. Aylsworth on November 27, 1905. In the 1920s he became involved in aerial photography
Aerial photography
Aerial photography is the taking of photographs of the ground from an elevated position. The term usually refers to images in which the camera is not supported by a ground-based structure. Cameras may be hand held or mounted, and photographs may be taken by a photographer, triggered remotely or...

 and documented archeological sites from the sky. Vierra was also a captain in the New Mexico National Guard
New Mexico National Guard
The New Mexico National Guard consists of the:*New Mexico Army National Guard **1st and 2nd Battalions, 200th Infantry**93rd Troop Command, 44th Army Band**111th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade**200th Infantry Brigade*New Mexico Air National Guard...

.

External links


Historical Books

  • Facing Southwest: the life & houses of John Gaw Meem, 1935. ISBN 0393731758
  • The Myth of Santa Fe: Creating a Modern Regional Tradition, 1997. ISBN 0826317464
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