Jo Mora

Mora was born on October 22, 1876, in Montevideo, Uruguay. His father was the Catalan sculptor, Domingo Mora, and his mother was Laura Gaillard Mora, an intellectual born in the Bordeaux region of France. His elder brother was F. Luis Mora, who would become an artist and the first Hispanic member of the National Academy of Design. The family entered the United States in 1880 and first settled in New York City, and then Perth Amboy, New Jersey.

File:Jo Mora 1931 Yosemite map.jpg

Jo Mora studied art at the Art Students League of New York and the Cowles Art School in Boston. He also studied with William Merritt Chase. He worked as a cartoonist for the Boston Evening Traveller, and later, the Boston Herald.{{cite book|last=Hiller |first=Peter|title=The Life and Times of Jo Mora, Iconic Artist of the American West|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k9MvEAAAQBAJ |publisher=Gibbs Smith|year=2021|place=Layton, Utah|isbn=978-1-423-65735-4}}

In 1900 Mora published The Animals of Aesop - Aesop's Fables Adapted and Pictured by Joseph J. Mora (Dana Estes and Co. Boston 1900), profusely illustrated with black/white and some color drawings, foreshadowing Mora's unique and evolving style.

In the spring of 1903, Mora arrived in Solvang, California. He stayed at the Donohue Ranch. He made plans to travel to the Southwest to paint and photograph the Hopi. He spent time at the Mission Santa Inés; those photographs are now maintained by the Smithsonian Institution. Mora visited many Spanish missions in California that summer by horseback. He followed the "Mission Trail", also called the "Kings Highway".

In 1904, Mora visited Yosemite.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mariposaartscouncil.org/who-is-jo-mora/|title=Who is Jo Mora? – Mariposa Arts Council|website=www.mariposaartscouncil.org}} Later, in 1904, to 1906, visited Arizona{{Cite web|date=2007-08-22|title=The University of Tulsa McFarlin Library|url=http://www.lib.utulsa.edu/Speccoll/collections/morahopiindian/index.htm|access-date=2022-12-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070822193908/http://www.lib.utulsa.edu/Speccoll/collections/morahopiindian/index.htm |archive-date=2007-08-22 }} where he took photographs, painted{{Cite web|url=https://www.johnmoran.com/auction-lot/joseph-jacinto-mora-1876-1947-monterey-ca_33AEED4522|title=Lot - Joseph Jacinto Mora (1876-1947 Monterey, CA)|website=www.johnmoran.com}} and otherwise recorded the daily life of these Native Americans. Because the Hopi and other tribes have voiced their concerns more recently about photographs depicting religious ceremonies, the tribal nation should be contacted before they are used. He learned the Native languages and made detailed drawings of what he observed.Pecina, Ron and Pecina, Bob. Neil David's Hopi World. Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2011. {{ISBN|978-0-7643-3808-3}}; pp.8,9,54,55.

File:Animaldom Mora 1907-09-15(SFS7-9-3) The Haughty Peacock.jpg

In 1907, Mora returned to California and married Grace Needham. Their son, Joseph Needham Mora, was born on March 8, 1908. The Moras moved to San Jose, California, where Mora continued his work.

On 22 February 1911, the Native Sons of the Golden West Building, in San Francisco, with six terra cotta panels, by Domingo Mora and his son, Jo Mora, was dedicated.{{Cite web|url=https://www.artandarchitecture-sf.com/native-sons-of-the-golden-west.html|title=Native Sons of the Golden West|website=www.artandarchitecture-sf.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://nsgw.org/history-of-the-nsgw-building/|title=History of the NSGW Building|website=nsgw.org}}

In 1915, he served on the International Jury of Awards at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition and displayed six sculptures.{{cite book|last1=Edwards|first1=Robert W.| title=Jennie V. Cannon: The Untold History of the Carmel and Berkeley Art Colonies, Vol. 1|date=2012|publisher=East Bay Heritage Project| location=Oakland, Calif.| isbn=978-1-4675-4567-9|pages=191, 265, 522–525, 690}} An online facsimile of the entire text of Vol. 1 is posted on the Traditional Fine Arts Organization website ({{cite web |url=http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/10aa/10aa557.htm |title=Jennie V. Cannon: The Untold History of the Carmel and Berkeley Art Colonies, vol. One, East Bay Heritage Project, Oakland, 2012; by Robert W. Edwards |access-date=2016-06-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429115613/http://tfaoi.com/aa/10aa/10aa557.htm |archive-date=2016-04-29 }}).

In 1915-16 two of his sculptural commissions were revealed: the bronze memorial tablet with the profile of the late Archbishop Patrick W. Riordan for the Knights of Columbus and the Cervantes Monument in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.The Oakland Tribune, 5 September 1915, p. 19.The Wasp (San Francisco, CA), 9 September 1916, p. 11. By 1919, he was sculpting for the Bohemian Club, including the Bret Harte Memorial plaque, completed in August 1919 and mounted on the outside of the private men's club building in San Francisco.

In 1921, the Mora family relocated to Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, the largest art colony on the West Coast, making it their primary residence. He constructed a Craftsman-style home, which is located on the west side of San Carlos Street, the third house south of 1st Avenue.{{cite web|url=https://ci.carmel.ca.us/sites/main/files/file-attachments/homes_of_famous_carmelites_0.pdf?1564762654 |title=Homes of Famous Carmelites|website=ci.carmel.ca.us |place=Carmel-by-the-Sea, California|date=1992|access-date=2023-04-11}}{{cite book|last1=Dramov |first1=Alissandra |last2=Momboisse |first2=Lynn A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nYQmDAAAQBAJ |title=Historic Homes And Inns Of Carmel-by-the-Sea|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|place=Carmel-by-the-Sea, California|date=2016|page=19|isbn=978-1-4671-0303-9|access-date=2023-04-02}}

Mora received a commission for the bronze and travertine Cenotaph, for Father Junípero Serra in the Memorial Chapel at the west end of Mission Carmel.{{Cite web|url=https://jomoratrust.com/about/|title=About - The Official Jo Mora|website=jomoratrust.com}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.analesiie.unam.mx/pdf/91_207-217.pdf|title=Komanecky, Michael K.: Jo Mora and the Missions of California, in: Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Esteticas, Vol. 91, 2007, 207- 217}}{{Cite web|date=2008-10-24|title=Mora Chapel|url=http://www.carmelmission.org/mission/morachapel.html|access-date=2022-12-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081024022944/http://www.carmelmission.org/mission/morachapel.html |archive-date=2008-10-24 }}

Mora was a director of the Carmel Art Association as early as 1934.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104550718/articles-of-incorporation/|title=Art Group Files Corporation Papers|work=The San Bernardino County Sun|date=17 Jan 1934|page=13|access-date=2020-04-23}} His sculptures were exhibited between 1927 and 1934 in various galleries in Carmel.{{cite web|first=Eleanor|last=Minturn James|title=North Lights |url=https://archive.org/details/ccarm_001871/page/n5/mode/2up?q=%22Jo+Mora%22+%22sculptures%22|work=Carmel Pine Cone|date=7 August 1931|access-date=2024-02-05}}

{{blockquote|Jo Mora is a serious sculptor, a responsible amateur actor; when mixed up with pen and ink, a humorist! Comic strips was once his trade. He was famous at it. That was years ago but his art of cartooning bloomed again when in recent years he produced the well known Mora Map of the Monterey Peninsula. Most successful with bronze statue creations which decorate many gardens in East and West. If he has a specialty in figures it is cowboys. He knows his West. Jo Mora will ever be famed for his portrayal of Pancho Lopez, The Bad Man, at Carmel Playhouse. He does everything well and is handsome while doing it. He is happily married-alas!|Carmel Pine Cone{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/ccarm_001733/page/n5/mode/2up?q=%22Heron%22|title=Who's Who-and Here|work=Carmel Pine Cone|place=Carmel-by-the-Sea, California|date=1928-12-14|pages=9–15|access-date=2022-10-17}}}}

During the Great Depression, Mora created the "Carmel Dollar" as part of Carmel's program, offering unemployed residents scrip for public service, exchangeable for groceries and essentials; a three-cent stamp on the certificate's back acknowledged their efforts. When full, merchants accepted the certified scrip for goods or a dollar.{{cite book|author=Richard Flower|url=https://carmelcares.org/storiesofoldcarmel/index.html |title=Stories of Old Carmel: A Centennial Tribute From The Carmel Residents Association|publisher=Carmel Residents Association|chapter=Carmel In The Great Depression |place=Carmel-by-the-Sea, California|date=2014|pages=152–153}}{{cite web|author=Jerry Gervase|url=http://pineconearchive.fileburstcdn.com/140418PCRE.pdf|title=Carmel Dollars, a local way to ease the hardships of the Great Depression|work=The Carmel Pine Cone|place=Carmel-by-the-Sea, California|date=April 18, 2014|page=6|access-date=2023-08-14|archive-date=2022-07-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706085425/http://pineconearchive.fileburstcdn.com/140418PCRE.pdf|url-status=dead}}

Architect Robert Stanton collaborated closely with Mora on multiple projects. In 1937, Stanton was the architect for the Monterey County Courthouse, which incorporated Mora's bas-relief panels, column caps, and figurative heads on both the building's exterior and its interior courtyard.{{cite web|url=https://livingnewdeal.org/tag/robert-stanton/|title=Robert Stanton|work=The Living New Deal|date=May 24, 2019|access-date=2023-08-20}}

File:Statue of Junipero Serra (Carmel Woods).jpg in Carmel Woods.]]

On July 22, 1922, for the opening day of the Carmel Woods subdivision, Mora had carved and painted a wooded statue of Padre Junípero Serra, which was installed within a small wooden shrine, surrounded by plants and a pair of wooden benches at the entrance to the development, at the intersection of Camino del Monte and Alta Avenue.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90789105/carmel-woods/|title=Carmel Woods Sale July 22|work=The San Francisco Examiner |date=15 Jul 1922|place=San Francisco, California|page=9|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=2021-01-04}}{{cite web|url=http://pineconearchive.fileburstcdn.com/190920PCA.pdf|title=Carmel Woods takes shape and sell well, Serra honored with statue|work=The Carmel Pine Cone|date=2019-09-20|page=31|access-date=2021-12-17|archive-date=2021-12-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211219004456/http://pineconearchive.fileburstcdn.com/190920PCA.pdf|url-status=dead}}

In 1925, he designed the commemorative half dollar for the California Diamond Jubilee. During this period he also illustrated a number of books, made large murals, and published charts, maps (cartes) and diagrams of the West and Western themes. Beginning in 1937, Mora wrote and illustrated children's books about the West. In 1939, a Works Progress Administration project was completed, with Mora bas-relief sculpture adorning the King City High School Auditorium building.

===Pebble Beach===

In 1931 Jo, his wife, and daughter Patricia moved to nearby Pebble Beach into a newly built home. Five years later in the adjoining large studios he completed his massive diorama, Discovery of the San Francisco Bay by Portola, for the California Pavilion at the 1939-40 Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island. At a length of almost 100 feet, with 64 sculptures of Spaniards and Indians and over 200 animals, it was said "to surpass anything of its kind at the Fair."The Oakland Tribune, 13 October 1938, p. 4; 25 June 1939, p.B-7.Carmel Pine Cone, 21 October 1938, p.10. He fashioned smaller dioramas for the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore, Oklahoma, and the Sutter's Fort Museum in Sacramento, California.The Carmel Cymbal, 27 September 1940, p. 6.The Oakland Tribune, 24 August 1946, p. 1-C.

In 1928, Mora made the "El Paseo" sculpture in the courtyard of the El Paseo Building on Dolores Street and 7th Avenue in Carmel. It is a terracotta sculpture of a Californio man and a Señorita woman.{{cite web|url=https://www.ci.carmel.ca.us/sites/main/files/file-attachments/carmel_historic_survey_volume_ii_blocks_70-end_plus_historic_objects__districts.pdf|title=Department Of Parks And Recreation |publisher=National Park Service|author=Kent L. Seavey|date=January 20, 2002|access-date=March 24, 2022}}

In the early 1930s, Mora was commissioned by Earl F. Graft to decorate the Carmel Dairy Building in Carmel. Mora made three large interior dairy murals above a soda fountain (no longer present) and a sculptured a metal lamp in the shape of a cowbell that still hangs above the buildings front door. He showed animal figures dressed as humans, many recognizable as local Carmel residents. He also designed the menus, Christmas cards, and milk bottles, with these animal characterizations, and a cow that served as the logo. The Santa Rosa Republican described Mora's work with an article having the title: "Carmel's Prosaic Dairy is Art."{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90019702/santa-rosa-republican/|title= Carmel's Prosaic Dairy is Art |work=Santa Rosa Republican|place=Santa Rosa, California |date=9 Oct 1933|page=3|access-date=March 24, 2022 }}

Between 1908 and the late 1940s his sculptures, illustrations,{{Cite web|url=https://www.mainstreetfinebooks.com/pages/books/40682/joseph-jacinto-jo-mora/collection-of-nine-9-hotel-del-monte-menus|title=Collection of Nine 9 Hotel del Monte Menus by Joseph Jacinto Jo. MORA on Main Street Fine Books & Manuscripts|website=Main Street Fine Books & Manuscripts}} watercolors and etchings were frequently exhibited across the United States.{{Cite web|url=https://www.invaluable.com/artist/mora-joseph-jacinto-y52meb40j2/sold-at-auction-prices/|title=Joseph Jacinto Mora}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Joseph-Jacinto-Mora/FA17082E74091479/Artworks|title=Joseph Jacinto Mora | 77 Artworks | MutualArt|website=www.mutualart.com}}

Mora died October 10, 1947, in Monterey, California. His last book, Californios, which was devoted to the life of the rancheros of Alta California, was published posthumously.New York Times: 20 June 1949, p. 17; 26 June 1949, p.BR-10.Los Angeles Times, 10 July 1949, p. 4-5.{{Cite web|date=2022-09-01|title=No Title|url=https://pictures.abebooks.com/inventory/30277386866.jpg|access-date=2022-12-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220901234924/https://pictures.abebooks.com/inventory/30277386866.jpg|archive-date=2022-09-01 }}

• Mora's image, "Evolution of the Cowboy",{{cite web |last1=Tarquinio |first1=Holly |title=The Evolution of the Cowboy – 1933 Jo Mora |url=https://www.quarterhorsenews.com/2016/09/the-evolution-of-the-cowboy-1933-jo-mora/ |website=Quarter Horse News |access-date=2 September 2021 |date=15 September 2016}} a 1933 poster, reprinted in 1939, promoting the California Rodeo Salinas, next re-purposed, beginning in 1950, as Levi Strauss & Co. advertising, and later, part of the poster, the image of the Sweetheart of the Rodeo, was used on The Byrds' 1968 album Sweetheart of the Rodeo.{{cite web |last1=Mora |first1=Jo |title="Evolution of the Cowboy": Levi's Round-Up of Cowboy Lore |url=https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/58377/evolution-of-the-cowboy-levis-round-up-of-cowboy-lore-mora |website=rare maps }}{{cite web

| last = Lane

| first = Baron

| title = 5 Things You May Not Know About The Byrds' 'Sweetheart of the Rodeo'

| publisher = Twang Nation

| date = August 29, 2018

| url = http://www.twangnation.com/2018/08/29/5-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-byrds-sweetheart-of-the-rodeo/

| access-date = 2018-08-30}}

• Western performer Mike Beck's album Where the Green Grass Grows includes a song about Mora entitled "In Old California". It was written by Beck and Ian Tyson.{{Cite web|last1=A|first1=Great Basin|last2=E|date=2012-04-21|title=Mike Beck|url=https://gbae.org/mike_beck/|access-date=2021-10-22|website=Music at the Martin|language=en-US}}

Mora designed the 1925 California Diamond Jubilee half dollar.

• {{cite book |last1=Ford |first1=Tirey Lafayette |author1-link=Tirey L. Ford |last2=Mora |first2=Jo |author2-link=Jo Mora |title=Dawn and the dons; the romance of Monterey |date=1926 |publisher=A.M. Robertson |location=San Francisco |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hHVnAAAAMAAJ |quote= |oclc=948436391}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Mora |first1=Jo Jr. |author1-link=Jo Mora |title=A Log of the Spanish Main: A Jo Mora Diary |date=1933 |publisher=Jo Mora, Jr. |location=San Francisco |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YjkNAAAAYAAJ |language=en |oclc=652341703 |quote= }}
  • {{cite book |last1=Mora |first1=Jo |title=Trail Dust and Saddle Leather |date=1946 |publisher=C. Scribner's Sons |isbn=978-0-598-51246-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f2TiAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}
  • {{cite book |last1=Mora |first1=Jo |title=Californios, the Saga of the Hard-riding Vaqueros: America's First Cowboys |date=1949 |publisher=Doubleday |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lToLAQAAIAAJ |language=en |oclc=961562 }}

• When I Get Wound Up Writing I'm a Bad Article to Squelch: The Written Words of Jo Mora by Peter Hiller.{{Cite web|url=https://carmelmagazine.com/archive/13ho/jo-mora|title=Monterey County's Prolific Artist Unveiled – Carmel Magazine|website=carmelmagazine.com}} (2008) {{ISBN|0-615-23139-X}}.
• The Life and Times of Jo Mora: Iconic Artist of the American West by Peter Hiller.{{Cite web|url=https://voicesofmontereybay.org/2019/09/25/jo-mora-remembered/|title=Jo Mora Remembered}} Published by the Book Club of California, San Francisco, CA. October 2019. {{ISBN|978-0-692-05342-3}}.
• The Life and Times of Jo Mora: Iconic Artist of the American West by Peter Hiller.{{Cite web|url=https://westernhorseman.com/culture/out-west/the-life-and-times-of-jo-mora/|title=The Life and Times of Jo Mora|date=June 4, 2021|website=Western Horseman}} Published by Gibbs-Smith, Layton, Utah. April, 2021. {{ISBN|978-1-423-65735-4}} (Hardcover)

• The Year of the Hopi: Paintings and Photographs by Joseph Mora, 1904-'06, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., 1979
• Jo Mora: Artist and Writer, Monterey Museum of Art, 1998
• Back to the Drawing Board with Artist Jo Mora, Monterey History and Art Association, Monterey, CA, 2003

File:Jo Mora - Scratching A Twister.jpg|Scratching A Twister, 1915

File:J Mora - Poppy Girl.jpg|Poppy Girl, 1915

File:Detail of Bret Harte sculpture.jpg| Bret Harte Memorial,
Bohemian Club,
San Francisco,
1919

File:Monterey County Courthouse 2018 Salinas CA (7).jpg|Monterey County Court House,
Salinas, California,
1937

File:KingCityHS-RobertStantonTheater.jpg|Facade,
Robert Stanton Theater,
King City High School, 1939

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

• [http://jomoratrust.com Jo Mora Trust site]
• [http://www.tfaoi.com/newsmu/nmus46e.htm Profile by Monterey Museum of Art]
• [http://www.caviews.com/jomora.htm California Views: The Pat Hathaway Photo Collection - Jo Mora]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080617175153/http://www.nau.edu/~cline/speccoll/guide/m/mora.html Cline Library Jo Mora Photo Collection ]
• [http://www.californios.us/mora/ Californios]
• [http://www.publicartinla.com/Downtown/Broadway/joseph_mora_bio.html Brief profile of Mora]
• [https://www.lambiek.net/artists/m/mora_joseph-j.htm Lambiek Comiclopedia article.]

{{List of Historic Buildings in Carmel-by-the-Sea}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mora, Jo}}

Category:1876 births

Category:1947 deaths

Category:Artists from Montevideo

Category:Uruguayan people of Catalan descent

Category:Uruguayan people of French descent

Category:American people of Catalan descent

Category:American people of French descent

Category:American editorial cartoonists

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Category:Art Students League of New York alumni

Category:Western United States

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Category:20th-century American sculptors

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Category:Sculptors from New York (state)

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Category:Uruguayan comics artists

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Category:20th-century Uruguayan sculptors