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San Antonio's Importance in Texas History by Howard Norton Cook
Photo CreditPhoto courtesy of Page Conservation, Inc.
San Antonio's Importance in Texas History
Photo CreditPhoto courtesy of Page Conservation, Inc.

San Antonio's Importance in Texas History

Artist
Year1939
Classification painting
Medium fresco
Dimensions46" x 872"
Credits New Deal Art Program
Fine Arts Collection
U.S. General Services Administration
Location


  • South Wall Panels:  (1) Spanish influence. 76" x 58" x  118" A spanish general riding a white horse leads an army of soldiers and civilians, including a Franciscan friar. 


    (2)  Building the missions. 76" x 42 1/2" x  162". Native Americans building a mission under the direction of the Franciscan friars.  Near an Indian village are Franciscan friars and Indian squaws with corn and a bundle of cane. 


    (3)  Early trading systems on the plaza. 76"  x 43 3/4 x 163 3/4"  A Spaniard and a man with his wife and daughter are in the foreground. Indians with pottery are walking near the building on the plaza where products are sold or exchanged.


    (4) Arrival of Santa Ana. 76" x 42 1/4" x 162 1/4" General Santa Ana is riding a white horse and his troops march forward under the Mexican flag (1824).  Civilians rush out of the "presidio" to meet them. 


    (5) General Sam Houston discussing battle plan.  76" x 42 7/8" x 162 7/8" Civilians building a fort; an oxcart as a means of transporting belongings from one place to another for the colonists. 


    (6) Frontiersmen unite.  The Alamo is in the distance and in the foreground frontiersmen and others are uniting.



    West Wall Panels:  (1)  Travis with a sword.  After the battle, Santa Ana was captured and Sam Houston wounded.  A soldier leads a white horse.  Texas soldiers surround a group of Mexican soldiers. 


    (2) Treaty of Texas Independence.  Santa Ana signs the treaty of Texas Independence in the presence of Sam Houston, 1836. 


    (3)  Colonists with Indians.  Friendship between Indians and colonists.  A little girl is being returned to the colonists.  Village with mission church.


    (4)  Texas in the Union, 1846.  US and TX flags displayed.  Colonists in covered wagons and a herd of goats.  Indians on horseback with a herd of bison.  Longhorn cattle.  Cowboys with a herd of Texas longhorns.  A farmer is riding a white horse.  Confederate flag indicates that Texas became a Confederate state in 1861. 


    (5)  First railroad.  The first locomotive comes to Texas.  The torch of progress is carried by a free people.



    East Wall Panels:  (1)  Cowboys and ranchers.  Ranchers in the foreground with a herd of cattle.  Ranch life or the cattle industry is prospering.  The artist's signature appears in the lower right hand corner of this section.  Oil, gas and chemicals depicted. 


    (2)  Cotton industry.  The farming industry is depicted by people engaged in threshing grain and picking cotton.



    ACCORDING TO COOK:  The scenes in the first part of the mural show the influence of Spanish missionary work and colonization, Mexican culture and Indian culture intermingling with that of colonists from other states, and finally the struggle for freedom and the Alamo.  Scenes in the latter part of the mural show the cultural influences following freedom from tyranny - a unity of cultures, cattle, cowboys, oil wells, a railway, and other industries - which contribute to the prosperity of the people of Texas.