The Black Shawl, 1933
Esquipula Romero de Romero
oil on Masonite
22 1/2 x 18 in.
Collection of the New Mexico Museum of Art. Museum purchase with funds donated by Jordi M. Chilson Estate Trust with additional support from the Friends of Contemporary Arts, 1999
New Mexico Magazine reproduced Romero de Romero’s painting The Black Shawl on the cover of its August 1933 issue, and again in May 1934. The painting portrays the artist’s daughter looking up at a cross that the viewer sees only as a shadow cast on the rock face behind the figure. As interest in Hispanic arts increased during the 1930s, Romero de Romero became the best-known Hispanic painter in New Mexico. Although he had studied painting around the country, Romero de Romero made his living painting signs in Albuquerque.