Jesse Treviño: The Latino Art Community Suffers an Enormous Loss

Jesse Treviño, one of America’s premier Latino artists, passed away on February 13, 2023 in San Antonio, Texas. He was 76 years old. Treviño had been ill for the past year following a surgery for cancer. His monumental tile mosaic sculptures and murals are among the city’s best known works of art. Several of his paintings of the Westside of San Antonio were selected to be included in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and San Antonio Museum of Art during the 1990s, making him among the first Latino artists to receive such prestigious recognition. 

Jesse Treviño, “Brothers.” Photo by Ricardo Romo

Treviño devoted his life to chronicling the  Mexican American experience. His paintings focused largely on  a narrative about his love and appreciation for his community, family, culture, and history. A large painting of his mother hanging the family wash on the clothesline behind their Westside home hangs in the San Antonio Museum of Art. A painting of his seven brothers in front of the family  home is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum. But his  artwork also has a personal narrative. Treviño included himself in the “The New Chapa Lion,”  a mural depicting a family of lions that he attributed to the famed pharmacy, Chapa Drugs, which in the early 1900s  had  a large lion painted on the sidewall of the pharmacy. I argue that this mural is also a personal statement–Treviño had the heart of a lion, he was a fighter, he was brave, and he was proud and protective of his Chicano community. 

Jesse Treviño, “Veladora” mural. Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center. Photo by Ricardo Romo

Jesse Treviño was born in Monterrey, Mexico and came to the United States as a young child.  His father, Juan Treviño, immigrated from Monterrey, Mexico to the United States in the late 1920s. Juan Treviño drove trucks and repaired cars for a living.  He worked as a  mechanic in San Antonio  when he first met his future wife Dolores in the  nearby city of New Braunfels.  Following their marriage in the mid 1930s, Juan and Dolores moved to Monterrey, Mexico  where most of the Treviño's twelve  children, including Jesse, were born. 

Jesse Treviño, hand-colored photo of his family. Photo copied by Ricardo Romo. Special thanks to Gabriel Velazquez. 

Juan Treviño and his growing family moved back to San Antonio in 1951 and bought a house on Monterey Street in the Westside neighborhood of Prospect Hill.  Dating back to the turn of the century, the Prospect Hill  community had been popular with German, Italian, and Lebanese families.  In the years after World War II,  the neighborhood became a popular destination for middle class Latinos. Prospect Hill emerged as one of few integrated neighborhoods in the city.  

 Prospect Hill at this time was a quiet neighborhood with modest but elegant homes. Latinos began moving into Prospect Hill in the mid 1940s, and by the 1950s they represented  nearly half of the residents in the  community.   Among the first Latino  families to buy homes in Prospect Hill  were the parents of Lionel Sosa, founder of the nation’s largest Latino advertising firm; Jorge Cortez, whose family developed the nationally recognized Mi Tierra restaurant enterprise; and the family of San Antonio Mayor and U.S. Secretary of  Housing and Urban Development, Henry Cisneros.  Years later when Lionel Sosa headed his advertising agency, he bought several of Treviño’s paintings for the agency office, including the famed Treviño portrait of the San Antonio Mexican Theater, the Alameda. 

Jesse Treviño at his studio on Guadalupe Street. Photo by Ricardo Romo. 

  My own family moved to Prospect Hill in 1950, and we  lived on Monterey Street, as did Jesse Treviño, Henry Cisneros, Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Cleto Rodriguez,  and artist Rolando Briseno. I was a few years older, but  Treviño and I both  attended Sacred Heart Catholic Church and Fox Tech Vocational High School.

Treviño began drawing as a young child, and his interest in art and design led him to Fox Tech where his older brothers had attended.  Treviño’s early years were formative and important to his development as an artist. During his first year at Fox Tech High School, Treviño painted a portrait of Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson that  he titled simply  “LBJ” (1962). 

Jesse Treviño mosaic tile mural at Market Square. Photo by Ricardo Romo.

 After finishing high school in 1965, Treviño headed East to the prestigious Art Students League of New York on a scholarship.  His mentors and teachers there included  some of America’s finest portrait painters.  Additionally, he studied alongside some of the brightest young artists in the nation.  

In the 1960s, New York was considered among the top three places in the world to pursue the study and practice of art.  However, Treviño’s  stay in New York  lasted less than a year,  ending when he was drafted into the United States Armed Services.  

Anthony Head’s biography,  Spirit: The Life and Art of Jesse Treviño, best tells the Treviño story. Head   described Treviño’s Vietnam service and his return after being wounded from the war as the beginning of a tortured experience extending from many months to many years.  Head wrote:  “Under heavy fire, Treviño  sustained life-threatening injuries.”  Treviño injuries were devastating.  He seriously injured his right arm, which was his painting arm, and his right hand.   Eventually his  arm was amputated below the elbow, but  Head wrote, “Jesse had already started training himself to live left-handed—especially as an artist.” Few major painters in history have had to overcome greater physical challenges than Jesse Treviño. 

Jesse Treviño painting of “Rosita.” Photo by Ricardo Romo

In 1977,  Treviño created the well-known drugstore painting  “Progreso”  as part of his Westside series. This series  included several oil and acrylic paintings of life in the Chicano neighborhoods on the Westside of San Antonio during that period.   His best known paintings of that era include “Raspa Man,”  “La Cita Lounge,” and “Liria’s Lounge.”  The  “Progreso” painting, purchased by public relations guru Lionel Sosa in the 1980s, became part of Lionel and Kathy Sosa’s private collection. 

In the early 1990s, Treviño’s good friend Jorge Cortez, owner of the well known Mi Tierra Mexican Restaurant in San Antonio, began talking with Treviño about a monumental mural on the nine story wall of Christus Santa Rosa Hospital. Treviño always loved gigantic art and proposed painting a mural on the entire nine story hospital wall facing south that  could be viewed from the elevated I-35 Highway.  

Jesse Treviño “Spirit of Healing,” mural at Christus Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital. Photo by Ricardo Romo

Instead of a painted mural, Treviño created a  huge mosaic tile  mural,  the “Spirit of Healing,”  a masterpiece constructed on nine  floors of  the hospital which is one of the most visible murals in Texas.  The mural  is a mammoth  93 by 43 foot wall that  required thousands of small pieces of tile of 70 different colors. At its completion,  the art piece was reputed to be the largest ceramic mural in America. The mural depicts a young boy (his son)  holding a dove under the watchful protection of a guardian angel. Because of its central location near touristy Market Square and the busy I-35 corridor, this mural is viewed by millions every year. 

 In 1999, the Texas Diabetes Institute near the corner of Guadalupe and Zarzamora in San Antonio commissioned Treviño to paint a rendition of a Mexican American healer which he titled “La Curandera.”  The  Curandera, or faith healer, represented his culture, his community, and his faith.  Treviño is also known for his monumental art mosaic  tribute to the Virgin of Guadalupe,  “Veladora,”  located at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, considered the heart of the Westside. The 40-foot  Veladora that Treviño created in 2003 is one of the most popular art pieces on the Westside

Jesse Treviño detail of  “La Curandera” mural at the Texas Diabetes Institute. Photo by Ricardo Romo 

Treviño’s portraits of San Antonio’s Westside heroes, including  Congressman Henry B. Gonzales, community leader Ruben Munguia, and singer and dancer Rosita Fernandez, are favorites among many collectors.  Treviño painted and created murals for more than fifty years and is considered  one of the great art  treasures of Texas.  In addition to being an outstanding artist, Jessie Treviño is an inspiration to individuals of all ages and backgrounds who are  challenged by difficult circumstances in their quest for achievement and success.  

The National Hispanic Hall of Fame honored Treviño in 2021 with its annual Lifetime Achievement Award.   Anthony Head, the author of the definitive book on Jesse Treviño, told Matt Joyce of Texas  Highways  magazine that  the Treviño  story  is one “of sheer determination to follow a dream.  When he was at his lowest, Jesse found faith in himself to continue working. He simply was not going to be denied the life he always wanted to live.”  My more than 40 years of friendship with Treviño has allowed me to understand his purpose and to appreciate his art and inspiration from close up.  He was a true fighter. He never gave up, and he got up many times after being knocked down. He fought the good fight.  His life of overcoming challenges is a lesson for us all. 

 Jesse Treviño has left San Antonio and beyond a bountiful archive of artistic creations that promote positive images of the Chicano community.  Jessie Treviño’s determination and success in overcoming devastating life experiences establish him as an heroic model for future generations. 

Jesse Treviño and fellow Fox Tech graduate, Ricardo Romo. Photo by Harriett Romo