So here’s the story: I generally have always been interested in
western history. Further, I am a long-time fan of the Santa Fe Railway
and over time developed an interest in the Fred Harvey Company. Of
course, when you are interested in Fred Harvey you become aware of and develop
an appreciation of Fred Geary.
My wife and I have stayed at La Posada Hotel in Winslow many times over
the past ten years.
There we became aware of the the Fred Geary woodcut print San Ysidro. One of the prints, in the original stylized frame made at the hotel, is on display in a glass curio case in the lobby of La Posada. As you know, prints from the woodcut hung in the guestrooms at La Posada during the Harvey years and today you may purchase items with the San Ysidro graphic in the hotel’s gift shop.
There we became aware of the the Fred Geary woodcut print San Ysidro. One of the prints, in the original stylized frame made at the hotel, is on display in a glass curio case in the lobby of La Posada. As you know, prints from the woodcut hung in the guestrooms at La Posada during the Harvey years and today you may purchase items with the San Ysidro graphic in the hotel’s gift shop.
Last October 11-13, my wife Catherine and I attended the Fall For
Antiques dealer show at the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos, New
Mexico. Here’s a the museum’s page for that annual show:
While looking at the dealer displays on Friday evening, my wife spotted a
San Ysidro print in a plain black frame. It had been brought to
the show by a dealer from Montecito, California, named Michael Haskell.
Here’s a link to his business: http://www.michaelhaskell.com/
We went back to our hotel room and proceeded to research online Fred
Geary and the print. Your name came up in Google searches and so we
contacted you and we had our phone conversation. We did purchase the
print on Sunday, the last day of the show.
We were told by Michael that the print had come from the estate of Robin
Jones. As it turns out, Robin Jones was a fine art and antiques dealer
in Santa Barbara. Here is her obituary:
Here the trail grows cold. We don’t know how Ms. Jones came to
acquire a copy of the San Ysidro print. Michael Haskell dealt
with Robin Jones’ son Evan. Evan’s contact information is in the
obit. I have not yet tried to contact him to find out more. http://www.isa-appraisers.org/extranet/FindAnAppraiser/Profile/1915
So that’s the story as I know it.
If you think it would be helpful, when I return to New Mexico I can
photograph the framed print and email you a copy of the photo. It is
hanging in our dining room there and is in the same condition as when we
purchased it.
Hope this helps! If you have any other questions, please let us
know.
Best regards,
--------------------------------------------------------
Brian Kreimendahl
Edgewood, New Mexico
http://www.laposada.org/hotel_history.html
http://millicentrogers.org/index.php/about-the-museum
Brian Kreimendahl,
Rio Rancho, New Mexico,
Documenting, photographing and modeling BNSF in the Southwest
http://www.pbase.com/intermodal
http://www.pbase.com/image/86990567 photo of brian
Brian Kreimendahl
Edgewood, New Mexico
Documenting, photographing and modeling BNSF in the Southwest
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/santafetrail/conversations/messages/187
http://www.columbiatribune.com/arts_life/ovation/barile-traces-a-rich-history-in-new-santa-fe-trail/article_f4ec17f4-8b84-5825-9fcd-db079b775dc8.html
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/santafetrail/conversations/messages/175
"Hanging in each room was a picture of San Ysidro, the patron saint of farming and gardening, a hand-colored linoleum-block print created by Harvey artist Fred Geary that depicted the saint standing behind a plow with oxen and attended by guardian angels, conveying the essence of La Posada's make-the-desert-bloom aura." p.174-175. [La Posada in Winslow, Arizona, 1930.]
As a followup, Tony Garcia III, an antique dealer in southern Texas sent me this photo of his print. Which I believe is one of the prints, in the original stylized frame made at the hotel, on display in a glass curio case in the lobby of La Posada. (double click on next photo)
COMPARE both images. It looks like a border was added on the bottom edge of the print, where Fred Geary hand printed his name in pencil. Makes me WONDER how large his edition was of that particular print.
