"Manuel Acosta Tribute 1921-1989"
"Gallery Talk" by Hal Marcus
Reprinted from El Paso Scene, May 1999
    One of the neat things about my job as a gallery owner is that I have intuitions that turn into big projects that force me to learn more about art and life. One of those such projects is the Manuel Acosta Tribute which I am coordinating. The date of the opening reception is June 5 from 3-6 p.m. at the Ysleta Student Entrepreneur Center Gallery under the direction of Lupe Casillas-Lowenberg. The show will run through August 1. Works of art will be on loan courtesy of many private collectors and friends of the artist. Some works will be for sale.
    It has been ten years since Manuel Gregorio Acosta was brutally murdered at the age of 68.
    Manuel’s life lives on in all the people he knew and painted. His wit and sense of humor was always turned on. No other painter depicted the people of the Border as he did. His poetic themes were unparalleled. He was personable and funny. His work was blessed with Mexico’s charm.
    Manuel Acosta gained recognition, and exhibited in New York, Washington D.C., and Mexico City. He painted the portrait of Cesar Chavez for the cover of Time Magazine in 1969. Manuel Acosta’s art was not celebrated enough, although he himself celebrated a lot. He was most famous for his parties. But as with most artists, life was a struggle. Art was his salvation, and laughter the healing device. You have to see his art to understand the people that inspired him to live and work. Mexico sings through this man that was born in Chihuahua and came across the Rio Grande with his mother and father.
    He attended Texas Western College and studied with sculptor Urbici Soler. In his effort to become a true artist, Acosta spent much time with the well-traveled Soler. Soler was the master who created the Monument on Mount Christo Rey. Soler encouraged his young protégé’s company, and exposed to much more than the usual teacher/student relationship. Manuel was with Soler on the night Soler died unexpectedly at the foot of the mountain.
    Manuel was influenced by the celebrated artists Peter Hurd and Henriette Wyeth. Manuel painted presidents and cholos, peddlers and revolutionaries, old people and bullfighters, dancers and beggars, he painted his friends and his enemies. He painted until the day he died—unsure of his destiny and unsure of his car payments.
    Manuel understood the poverty, the discrimination and the lack of opportunities for Hispanics. But he never lost his clever sense of humor.
    "Manuel was probably the first artist to ever paint Mexicans and Hispanics the way they really are without apologizing to anyone for it," wrote writer Joe Olvera.
    He loved El Paso so much that he bequeathed his unique home studio to the City of El Paso. He lived so his legacy might be remembered. Ten years has passed and weds grow around his abandoned studio deteriorating in neglect, weathering away in wind-blown apathy. Will his art and life be stronger than politics?
    A legal issue is still unresolved over more than $500,000 in paintings, sculptures and other artworks left behind. He left no will. Acosta’s heirs—three brothers and a sister—contend over how the estate, including 128 paintings and nine sculptures, should be shared among them. These works however are still hidden in a vault at the Chase bank. There is now talk that they must be released.
    Manuel Acosta always used to wear a paper-bag hat. Father Arturo Banuelas, who led the prayers at Manuel’s funeral said then, "Today his paper hat is a crown of glory."
    Some interesting facts about Acosta’s funeral that I read: He was buried with what he called his Mexican-Italian-Pajama shirt, wearing his trademark paper hat, with a can of Budweiser beer in his hand (his nephew placed it there).
    The late poet Ricardo Sanchez wrote, "The finest tribute to Manuel Acosta is to transform our city into a caring and loving place, one where all artists can live with the dignity of being paid for their work—the ultimate respect we can show an artist is to accord him or her recompense for years of discipline, learning and ability honored."
    Art settles, returns, and endures. Art has its tradition to ensure rightfulness even when society forgets its duties. We must celebrate the greatness of Manuel Gregorio Acosta.
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