An altar memorializing artist Jesse Treviño has been erected in Mi Tierra’s main lobby. Credit: Nina Rangel

Even a month after the funeral mass of Jesse Treviño, San Antonio is still lamenting the loss of the beloved and influential visual artist known for his photorealistic paintings and large-scale public art projects.

Friends and associates of the late Treviño, who died Feb. 13 at age 76 after a battle with cancer, said he had an outsize impact on the San Antonio community because he was part of the community. His legacy is that of an icon, a mentor and a creator of work that spoke to a public broader than just those who visited galleries or collected his work.

Treviño lost his right arm while serving in the Vietnam conflict. While face-down in a rice paddy, he vowed to return to his hometown and paint those dearest to him. Once he returned to San Antonio, he began painting with his left hand despite facing tremendous hurdles.

Among Treviño’s best known work is The Spirit of Healing, a 93-foot mosaic mural on the facade of the Christus Santa Rosa Hospital, which he completed in 1997. His La Veladora of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a four-story, three-dimensional ceramic mural at the Guadalupe Theatre become a celebrated West Side landmark after its 2003 completion.

Although several of Treviño’s works have been acquired by the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum, those close to him said his deepest impact remains in the community in which he grew up — a community with whom he continues to resonate as an artist, individual and eager teacher.

“He was really regarded as a hometown hero,” said Ruben C. Cordova, who curated the first comprehensive retrospective for Treviño at the Museo Alameda in 2009.

“He wanted to paint photorealistically, because people could understand that; people could relate to it,” Cordova continued. “And because he could really render what he saw in a photograph, people marveled at that. To think he had begun as a right-hand painter and then started painting with his left hand, that’s even harder to believe.”

In preparation for the 2009 retrospective, Cordova remembers Treviño as being reluctant to talk about his work. With days ticking down before its opening, the curator finally corralled him, forced him to sit down and open up about his creative process.

Far from being unable to articulate his work process, it became clear Treviño remembered every detail of every work that he made. Cordova described the painter as being “very precise” and possessing a “sharp mind.”

Credit is still due

Among the most astonishing works in the Museo Alameda’s retrospective was a large-scale painting of the artist’s mother titled Señora Dolores Treviño. In it, Treviño depicts the family matriarch as she holds a basket full of laundry in the backyard of her modest home. The painting’s grand scale 25 23 appears to elevate the status of a domestic worker.

“I think what he wanted to do was capture the lived experience of his mother,” Cordova said. “It was important to him to paint her daily life.”

Cordova said depicting daily life is a tradition that could be traced back to French 19th century painting, when artists such as Gustave Courbet began breaking away from conventions and academic painting to forge the Realism movement. Later, the Chicano movement created demand for dignified images of Latinos in which they could be seen taking pride in the work they conducted.

Despite Alamo City art lovers’ appreciation of Treviño, he still hasn’t received the credit he’s due, Cordova said.

“He is a cultural hero in San Antonio but not as well known outside of San Antonio,” he added. “He really should be in local and national museums.”

San Antonio Jesse Treviño taught himself how to paint left-handed after losing his right arm during the Vietnam War. Credit: Scott Andrews

West Side Pride

Jimmy Leflore managed the City of San Antonio Public Arts Programs for more than 20 years.

One of the first major projects he remembers working on was Treviño’s Veladora sculpture at the Guadalupe Theater. When it was approved in the early 2000s, city officials were just starting to recognize the positive community impact of public art, Leflore said. For years prior, it had also been difficult to win city approval for the use of religious iconography on public buildings.

In that way, Treviño’s creation broke ground on two fronts.

“I don’t think that was lost on Jesse,” Leflore said. “I think he understood this was a bold statement he was making.”

Along with the city’s eventual backing of the project came the approval of the surrounding West Side, community that still hadn’t begun to get its full recognition as a significant cultural center of San Antonio.

“That project was a major milestone in helping establish the West Side culture as part of the San Antonio brand,” Leflore added. “People from all over go out of their way to see that sculpture.”

Leflore says he was impressed by Treviño’s ability to execute at such a grand scale, whether it be with paint brush or ceramic tile.

“I immediately understood his vision was at the level of a master artist,” Laflore said. “He loved his family, and he loved his hometown. He saw the beauty of Chicano people, and he was able to communicate that so that his own people and others could see it.”

Painting La Raza

Joe Lopez, known for his paintings of Mexican Americans and roosters, a symbol of strength in Mexican American culture, sees Treviño’s significance as that of a mentor — not just to him but an entire community.

For years, Lopez owned the Gallista Gallery on South Flores Street, a spot that showcased his own work as well as that of emerging San Antonio artists. He frequented the same frame shop as Treviño and eventually befriended the revered painter.

Lopez was born with only one arm and saw Treviño as an inspiration for his ability to overcome obstacles.

“But besides that, he was painting about La Raza,” Lopez said. “When you see something that you can relate to, it makes you feel good. We were so proud of him that he wasn’t ashamed of painting these things. It was like saying, ‘Don’t forget where you came from.'”

Lopez credits Treviño for teaching him how to hang a painting properly and helping him to develop professionally.

“I started poniendole mas, and I became more professional,” Lopez said.

Lopez he also appreciated Treviño’s ability to adopt a sense of humor even when facing adversity — something he’s tried to channel. Lopez said he and his mentor often joked that they could save money if they bought gloves together.

Lopez points out that those who look closely enough at Treviño’s painting of his mother will see that she actually holds a large fruit basket rather than a laundry basket.

“People who have lived through humble times will recognize these small details,” he said.

‘Familiar faces’

Although painter Vincent Valdez now resides in Houston, he remains one of the Alamo City’s most-recognizable visual artists. He credits Treviño’s work for inspiring his own. Further, representation was a key part of that influence.

“As a child, I kept a scrapbook filled with local newspaper clippings of works by Cesar Martinez and Jesse Treviño,” Valdez said. “Their works were the very first time I saw familiar faces and communities like my own represented as American painting. Their works filled the void and carried me through childhood in ways that European and American art history books could not.”

Martinez, Valdez’s aforementioned inspiration, met Treviño in 1971. He remembers the painter’s masterful use of tools and described him a disciplined master whose creations were “very well calculated.”

Although Treviño’s work depicted Mexican Americans and Mexican American culture, perhaps one of the most significant aspects of it is that it can viewed as universal, Martinez said, unlocking perhaps one of the most vital clues as to why he remains a beloved San Antonio icon.

“We all work from a cultural viewpoint, but all cultures have parallels.” Martinez said. “I think Jesse was able to parlay that into a universal understanding of his work but also of our own culture.”

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This article appears in Apr 5-18, 2023.