Mario Sanchez (1908-2005)
Key West's Great Imitator
inscribed with title and signed 'Mario Sanchez' (lower right)
carved and painted wood
17 3/8 x 29 5/8 in. (44.1 x 75.3 cm.)
Executed in 1961.
Footnotes:
Provenance
El Kiosko Gallery, Key West, Florida.
Private collection, Key West, Florida, acquired from the above, 1967.
By descent to the present owner within the family of the above.

Referred to as arguably the most important Cuban American folk artist of the 20th century, Mario Sanchez was born on October 7, 1908 in a modest home on Key West, Florida's iconic Duval Street. Sanchez was the son of a cigar maker and lived in the community known as 'Gatoville' or 'Gato's Village.' Primarily self-taught, Sanchez began his artistic career in the 1930s working on found materials, such as paper bags or cedar wood boxes, and found inspiration in his familiar surroundings. Sanchez would later graduate to creating bas relief wood carvings that he would then paint over in vibrant colors. These carvings, such as the present work, often depict real characters and places in Key West as seen and remembered by Sanchez and are often charged with a sense of humor and nostalgia. As a result of this important aspect of his work, Sanchez has often been described as a memory artist and compared to the likes of other memory artists, such as Grandma Moses (1860-1961) and Clementine Hunter (1887-1987).

In a handwritten letter dated May 8, 1982, Mario Sanchez writes of the present work, 'These houses with the exception of the one to the right, which was 'Estevez Photo Studio,' an empty lot now, are on the 600 block of Duval St. The model T Ford was very popular those days. The taxi driver was 'Quarter a Piece,' because that was the fare. To the left on the sidewalk Pancho with his basket selling 'Hot Bollos,' still a very popular fritter made with blackeye peas. To the right is 'Cuco' dressed as a Navy officer playing his clarinet made out of old flashlights.' Sanchez goes on to write that he was a, 'Poor old soul who entertained the people all over Key West. Every day he had a different brainstorm imitating a Navy officer, a tango singer with his guitar, Jack Dempsey, or a poet. When he met a lady on the street he improvised a poem with very refined manners and rhetoric, sprinkled with Sunday words, which at the end he himself guessed what the heck he was saying.' (M. Sanchez, Unpublished Letter Addressed to Phil and Ruth Salesy, Tampa, Florida, May 8, 1982, pp. 3-4, no. 3)