Old Mexico Art and the Calendar Girls

This fabulous video of Marty Robbins song, El Paso, contains a fascinating collection of artwork from Old Mexico and the Southwest. When I saw this video, I was reminded of the old calendars at my grandparents house with the beautiful watercolors, so fresh you could feel the breeze and smell the lush smells of summer heat!  So I went on a Google search for the artists.  A couple of  books and things I found:


Mexican Calendar Girls: Chicas de calendarios Mexicanos  by Angela Villalba and Carlos Monsivais. The artwork is also available as postcards.


A book Icons Mexicana Vintage Mexican Graphics by Jim Heimann


The artwork is so mesmerizing to me. Although the women seem quite anglicized in some of the art, it still has all the color and feel of Old Mexico.... at least how I want it to be anyway...


I think my favorite of these artists is Jesús Helguera, (1910-1971). The beautiful women of Rocio and La Guitarra are my favorites. The woman in La Guitarra is holding a classical guitar very similar to mine and I would love a print of this for my practice room!