Federal Art Project of New Mexico, WPA
11 Proof prints from the Portfolio of Spanish Colonial Design in New Mexico, 1938
Black Ink on Genesse Linen 100% Rag
Prepared by the Federal Art Project of New Mexico of the Division of Women's and Professional Projects, Works Progress Administration (WPA), Santa Fe, 1938 for the Portfolio of Spanish Colonial Design in New Mexico, edited by E. Boyd
Includes:
St. Joseph and Child Plate 9 in portfolio
Annunciation to the Virgin Plate 11 in portfolio
St. Rita Plate 12 in portfolio
St. Veronica Not in the final portfolio (original in Denver Art Museum)
The Lost Child Plate 25 in portfolio
St. John Nepomuk Plate 39 in portfolio
Christ Crucified Plate 26 in portfolio
The Holy Family Plate 28 in portfolio
St. Isidore Plate 30 in portfolio
Our Lady of Guadalupe Plate 31 in portfolio
The Holy Trinity Plate 33 in portfolio
St. Roch Plate 36 in portfolio
St. Barbara Plate 41 in portfolio
Proof Prints: 17 x 11 in. (43.18 x 27.94 cm.), Portfolio: 14 1/2 x 11 1/2 in. (36.83 x 29.21 cm.)
The Paul Rhetts Collection, New Mexico

These printer proofs were collected by T. Edward Hanley of Bradford, Pennsylvania, a Pennsylvania oilman who started collecting as an undergraduate at Harvard in 1917. He passed away in 1969. He amassed an important collection of art, books, and manuscripts which were donated to museums and universities in Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco and Texas.

These proofs were printed at the beginning of the portfolio in 1936 as experimental printings. They were later printed on heavier stock paper and watercolored by 45 watercolorists including E. Boyd who prepared the original text and watercolor studies for the plates. The woodblock engravings were made by the following six engravers: Fritz Broeske, Louie Ewing, Donald Cole, Frank Stevens, Manville Chapman and Steward Walker.

The portfolio included 50 renderings of objects of art typical of Spanish Colonial heritage and 200 portfolios were completed. The text and woodblocks were composed and created for use in the printing with equipment of Rydal Press (Santa Fe), Whiteman Printing (Clovis) and the Gus Baumann Press at the Spanish American Normal School in El Rito.

Additional prints from this collection have been donated in memory of T. Edward Hanley and his wife Tullah Hanley to the Spanish Colonial Art Society in Santa Fe and to the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe and also to Sam Larcombe of Santa Fe who assisted me in the research of their origin. After years of speculation I discovered what the prints where while reading the book, "Treasures on New Mexico Trails" by Kathryn A. Flynn.
--Bob Schmader