Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
Library and Archives at the Autry
Title: Hernando G. Villa Collection
Creator:
Villa, Hernando Gonzalo
Identifier/Call Number: MS.565
Physical Description:
1.5 Linear Feet
(1 document box, 1 oversized portfolio box)
Date (inclusive): 1894-1972
Abstract: Hernando Gonzalo Villa (1881-1952) was a prominent commercial artist and muralist whose work primarily depicted Native Americans,
Mexican vaqueros, California missions, Spanish colonialists, and coastal views. This collection consists of the a sketch book,
personal papers, ephemera, photographs, and publications related to Hernando Villa, his artwork, and his family. The material
in this collection was created from 1894 to 1972.
Language of Material:
English
.
Hernando Gonzalo Villa (1881-1952) was a prominent commercial artist and muralist whose work primarily depicted Native Americans,
Mexican vaqueros, California missions, Spanish colonialists, and coastal views.
Villa was born in Los Angeles, California to Esiquia Asevedo and Miguel Villa. His parents came to Los Angeles as children
from Baja California in 1846 when the area was still part of Mexico. Villa was the youngest of 5 children and was born in
an adobe at what is now the corner of 6th and Spring streets in downtown Los Angeles. Villa graduated from the Los Angeles
School of Art and Design in 1905.
Villa established himself as a commercial artist in Los Angeles, illustrating magazines including the
Pasadena Daily News,
The West Coast Magazine, and
Town Talk, as well as a variety of artwork ranging from sheet music covers to newspaper advertisements, and a poster for the 1933 World's
Fair in Chicago.
Villa created the bookplate for Joseph Amasa Munk's Library of Arizoniana at the request of Charles F. Lummis who notes this
is in his personal journal on 1910 February 7. Villa also created advertising art for the Southern Pacific Railroad, the Los
Angeles Limited, and the Santa Fe Railway. He enjoyed a forty year relationship with the Santa Fe for which he created some
of his best known images including the Santa Fe Chief emblem.
In addition to commercial print work, Villa also executed easel paintings throughout his career which he showed primarily
in California. He worked in oil, watercolor, pastel, and charcoal. Villa was also a celebrated muralist who created murals
for Tally's New Broadway Theater in Los Angeles in 1916, the New Rialto Theater in Phoenix, Arizona in 1921, and Citizen Bank
in Los Angeles in 1926. Villa won a gold medal for a mural exhibited at the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition in 1915.
Reference:
Cook, A. M.
Los Angeles Times, undated.
This collection is physically arranged by size but has been arranged into the following series intellectually:
- Series 1: Artwork, circa 1903-1930
- Series 2: Newspaper clippings, 1912-1945
- Series 3: Personal papers and manuscripts, 1894-1972
- Series 4: Photographs, circa 1900 - 1950
This collection consists of the a sketchbook, personal papers, ephemera, and photographs. Also included is the short story
"Star of Taos and Juan," a Sotheby Parke Bernet catalog, and an illustrated price list of paintings by Villa.
Appointments to view materials are required. To make an appointment please visit
https://theautry.org/research-collections/library-and-archives and fill out the Researcher Application Form.
Hernando G. Villa Collection, 1894-1972, Braun Research Library Collection, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MS.565; [folder number] [folder
title][date].
Biographical note created by Maritxu de Alaiza, 2012 April 5. Processing and finding aid completed by Anna Liza Posas, 2013.
Publication of finding aid made possible by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).
Copyright has not been assigned to the Autry Museum of the American West. All requests for permission to publish or quote
from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Research Services and Archives. Permission for publication is
given on behalf of the Autry Museum of the American West as the custodian of the physical items and is not intended to include
or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Sales catalogs
Star of Taos and Juan
Drawings
Advertisements
Clippings
Manuscripts
Scores
Photographs
Correspondence
Sheet music
Indians in art
West (U.S.) -- In art
Sketchbooks
Artists -- United States
Santa Fe Railroad
Schmid, Rudi, Ph.D., Dean
Southern Pacific Railroad Company