338

Luis Jiménez

1940 - 2006

Honky Tonk (study), 1981

colored pencil, graphite, oil pastel on paper
artist's notes on hues and values inscribed in right and lower margins
27 5/8 x 39 1/2 in. (70.2 x 100.3 cm.), frame: 32 x 43 1/2 x 2 in. (81.3 x 110.5 x 5.1 cm.)

  • Provenance: The Artist
    LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1994
    Private Collection, Louisiana

    This large, worked-up sheet is the key color study for Jiménez's landmark dance-hall scene, Honky Tonk. The drawing lays out the final composition—couples in motion across a bar interior—and, crucially, carries the artist's production notations for inks and tonal values at the margins, the kind of instructions a printer would use to translate Jiménez's high-chroma palette (later heightened with glitter in the editioned print). As a process document from 1981, it records the decisions that shaped the celebrated Landfall Press lithograph and shows Jiménez's characteristic blend of bold contour, muscular modeling, and neon-nightlife color thinking at the moment of conception.
    Luis Jiménez was a Mexican-American/Chicano sculptor best known for large, polychromed fiberglass public works featuring bold, neon-slick surfaces learned in his father's El Paso sign shop, fused with themes from Southwestern life and Mexican muralism. Trained at the University of Texas, he later taught at the University of Arizona and the University of Houston. Signature works include Border Crossing / Cruzando el Río Bravo (1989), the agrarian monument Sodbuster, San Isidro (1982–83), and Denver International Airport's Mustang(installed 2008). His art appears in major museum collections and surveys; a large retrospective, Man on Fire, opened at the Albuquerque Museum in 1994.
  • Condition: This original work is in very good condition. There is scattered, soft creasing at the corners, primarily the lower left, consistent with its use as a working study for the published lithograph. Overall, this vivid portrayal of Southwestern nightlife and working-class culture shows Jiménez's signature energy and sculptural draftsmanship.

    A condition report for this lot is available upon request and is provided by Santa Fe Art Auction as a courtesy and convenience for potential buyers.

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November 8, 2025 1:00 PM MST
Santa Fe, NM, US

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