The Haciendas of Mexico: An Artist's Record — John Shaqi
The Haciendas of Mexico: An Artist's RecordBartlett, Paul Alexander
History
The Haciendas of Mexico: An Artist's Record
Bartlett, Paul Alexander
Bartlett, Paul Alexander, 1909-1990; Haciendas -- Mexico -- Pictorial works; Haciendas in art
The floor of the extensive patio between these buildings is paved with
flagstone carved with Mayan glyphs and designs, appropriated from
nearby ruins on the property. The residence is furnished in eighteenth
and nineteenth-century styles with marble-topped tables, bronze and
brass beds, dangling chain lamps with handpainted globes and shades,
henequén hammocks, and tanned hides on tile floors. Bathroom fixtures
are British and washbasins with silver faucets bear a porcelainized
coat-of-arms.
There are reed chairs in the living room. Mediocre prints and a
seventeenth-century religious canvas decorate the walls. The floor
tiles are conventional in pattern; there are no rugs; the ceiling beams
are stenciled in pastel floral designs. Double doors lead to the
veranda. The dining room has a center table with a Tiffany-type lamp.
In the office there are chairs, an oak desk, a handpress, and a
bookcase.
In the micro-chapel, its wall decorated with gold and silver
fleur-de-lys and pink roses, there is a large sixteenth-century canvas
by an accomplished, anonymous artist: the descent from the cross, with
eight or ten figures merging with the background. There are no chairs.
The altar is small, insignificant. A white Seybold organ, a silver
crucifix, a pair of silver candles on a side table complete the
furnishings.
Behind the residence stands a theater with simple stone façade and
pilaster figures of women representing spring, summer, autumn, and
winter. A windmill spins behind a carved Mayan head perched on the
roof line. The auditorium accommodates a couple of hundred people for
movies and plays.
[Illustration: Hacienda de San José Huejotzingo, Puebla: florentine
armor in residence.]
The henequén production mill consists of a large open shed with a
corrugated roof. There is a machine press for crushing the maguey
leaves, which are hauled in by narrow-gauge flat cars, pulled by mules
or Ford-engine. There are fence-like racks behind the mill for drying
thousands of fibers at one time. Employees here work on salary; today
there are no feudal restrictions.
[Illustration: Hacienda de San José Huejotzingo, Puebla: pistol and
brand of hacienda]
From the rooftop of the residence, Mayan ruins are visible as earthen
mounds in the midst of maguey plantings. The seven mounds are an
unexplored archaeological site.
[Illustration: Hacienda cattle brand]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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