Corpus Christi, Nueces County
(1901-1997) Remembered for his contributions to the art community, Antonio E. Garcia was a talented Mexican American artist who created wood carvings, public frescoes and murals, and impacted generations of artists. Antonio E. Garcia was born in Monterrey, Mexico, in 1901. In 1914, during the Mexican Revolution, Garcia and his two sisters were sent to San Diego, Texas, to live with their grandfather and two aunts. After high school, Garcia attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1927 to 1930, where he earned two art prizes in 1929. In 1935, Garcia and his wife, Herminia Gonzales Garcia, moved to Corpus Christi where he utilized influences from his Mexican heritage to create award-winning frescoes. The self-taught fresco painter created his first major public work, March on Washington, in 1933 for the Dallas Museum through the Public Works Administration. In 1936, Garcia's easel painting, Woman Before a Mirror, a life-size representation of his wife, was exhibited at the Texas Centennial Exhibition in Dallas. The easel painting, Juneteenth Review, garnered notoriety for Garcia when it won first prize in the Southern State League Exhibit in 1949. Between 1942 and 1948, Garcia painted three Buon (True) frescoes for his parish Church of the Sacred Heart in Corpus Christi. Each painting is over thirty feet high and together they cover the sanctuary dome. Other prominent works include Mexican Annunciation at Presidio La Bahia in Goliad (1946), the 44-foot fresco of the Immaculate Conception in the Corpus Christi Seminary Chapel (1960) and wood carvings at Temple Beth-El and St. Thomas & Martin Episcopal Church. Garcia was also a book illustrator, one of the founders of the South Texas Art League in 1936 and taught courses at Del Mar College. A true inspiration to all who knew him, Garcia's art legacy continues to influence generations. (2016)