Falk Art Reference of Madison, CT announces the release of a groundbreaking biography, F. Luis Mora: America’s First Hispanic Master (1874-1940) by Lynne Pauls Baron.  

    Also included are essays by Laurene Buckley, Ph.D.; M. Elizabeth Boone, Ph.D.; and the book’s editor, Peter Hastings Falk. This comprehensive, hard cover book has 344 pages. It is lavishly illustrated with 350 plates, half in color, many of which have never before seen by the public.

    F. Luis Mora was born in Uruguay, the son of the Catalonian sculptor, Domingo Mora, and a cultured French mother, Laura Gaillard. He was related to the Cuban Bacardi family, famous for its rum.. Mora’s family immigrated to America in 1880 before he could speak English. Yet, at fifteen he was one of the youngest students to train at the venerable Boston Museum School of Fine Arts. In New York, he soon earned a distinguished career as an easel painter, portraitist, muralist, and illustrator for the finest magazines of his era.  He was also a popular teacher initially hired by the master of American Impressionism, William Merritt Chase, who became his mentor. Mora won almost every award and medal that was possible for an American artist.  Today, his works are held in thirty-four major art museums. 

    Lynne Baron’s book is enriched by her years of exhaustive research. She uses extensive quotes from the artist’s dairies and personal letters, providing intimate glimpses into the life and works of a painter recognized by critics as one of the leading artists of his generation.  

    Peter Falk notes, “Only a tiny fraction of the 65,000 artists listed in my Who Was Who in American Art have Hispanic roots. Fewer still are those Hispanics who won significant critical recognition. In 1906, Mora was the first Hispanic elected to the prestigious National Academy of Design, likely its youngest member ever.”  Professor William Gerdts agrees, adding that “Mora was an artist of exceptional ability, too long overlooked in the history of twentieth century American art.” After chronicling the stunning career of an important artist who never forgot his roots, Baron answers the most relevant question:  Why did Mora slip into obscurity?

     A former multinational financial analyst, Baron skillfully weaves into Mora’s biography the realities of the tumultuous political and economic environment of the late 19th and early 20th centuries    through wars, economic panics, and finally the Great Depression. She also plumbs Mora’s deepest personal tragedy in 1931, when in despair he attempted to bury all of his paintings.  

    Baron underscores Mora’s international focus and his life-long goal to bring the techniques of the Spanish Old Masters into modern American painting. He traveled extensively through Spain; and later, he traveled throughout the American Southwest capturing village scenes, inspired by the Hispanic-Native American culture. Throughout Mora’s work, the Hispanic spirit is the common thread of this most unusual of American masters.

 

    F. Luis Mora: America’s First Hispanic Master, ISBN 978-0-932087-62-1. Payment of $84.95 ($79.95 plus $5.00 for shipping) may be mailed directly to: Mora Biography, P.O. Box 212, Madison, CT 06443; by email, biography@fluismora.org or baronart@comcast.net; or by calling 860.663.0222.