PATROCINIO BARELA Taos Wood Carver [SOLD]

PATROCINIO BARELA Taos Wood Carver

Publisher: Taos Recordings and Publications, Taos

Compiled and published by Mildred Tolbert, Wendell B. Anderson, and Judson Crews, Taos, New Mexico, 1955

This first edition, out of print book measures 12" x 10", softcover, spiral bound, 66 pages

Contents

Some Notes on The Work of Pat Barela, Judson Crews

The Whittler In The Dawn, Wendell B. Anderson

List of Plates (there 24 plates of Barela's carvings)

I Lead a Heavy Life, Patrocinio Barela

Acknowledgments and Credits

This is the earliest book on Patrocinio Barela, issued in 1955.

Included with this rare first edition book on Barela is Time The Weekly Newsmagazine, Volume XXVIII, No. 12, September 21, 1936, in which is an article on WPA artists and what they were doing at the time. Barela is included in the article: "Discovery of the year was a 28-year-old Spanish-American from Taos, N. Mex named Patrocinio Barela, with an instinctive talent for wood carving." There is a short article on Barela that follows.

From the Introduction

“This book has had a comparatively long but modest history, appearing originally in 1955 and published in 1962 by Taos Recordings and Publications.  The original author-publishers, Judson and Mildred Crews and Wendell B. Anderson had no aim beyond making as handsome a book of photographs of the work as was possible within their limited means.  In a community of sophisticated artists a kind of small underground cult which appreciated and collected ‘Barelas’ had evolved, and it seemed a good idea to make a book showing some of the works of this ‘primitive’ sculptor, along with the artist’s own explanations of them.

“Now from the perspective of twenty-one years we are able to observe certain changes that have taken place and certain effects the book has had here in the Southwest.  Barela died in 1964 in a night fire that burned his ramshackle studio to the ground.  A good artist’s death always makes a difference.  Suddenly everyone realizes how unique his products are: they are taken more seriously and rise in monetary value.  With all our technology another Barela sculpture can never be made because only one man could make them: Pat Barela.  People want them because they are inimitable.  That is part of the joy of art: it is the product of mysterious forces working in one unique soul.  Another change is that Barela’s own neighbors in the community now respect him whereas two decades ago he was considered a bit loco.”