The lush village on the eastern incline of the Sierra Madre Range of Mexican mountains, Tamazunchale is the half-way point on most two day trips from Laredo, Texas to Mexico City. Artist Duncan Gleason traveled by car with his wife Dorothy through Mexico in 1947, from Thanksgiving Day until Christmas Day, and twice stopped and stayed in the village. On the return trip home, it was Christmas Eve, and Dorothy wrote "Duncan made a sketch down by the river and then we attended church." Two other sketches of the village are illustrated in her book "Sketches and Paintings from Mexico", from the first stop, when they "paused for a few days, sketching and painting and sharpening pencils(her job)".
The diversity of the regions and people intrigued the Gleasons. The multitude of fruit groves and fields of sugar cane are still prevalent, and the raw materials those crops supply account for the tropical architecture of this scene on the inclined bluff along the Moctezuma River. The native Indian people speak not Spanish, but the language of Nahuatl, which was spoken by the Aztecs. Two women wash items at the river's bank, while wearing the traditional shoulder-head scarves of the area's native people. The village is a primary open-market place for the agricultural region, and from its 400 foot elevation the road rises steadily up the mountains to 8,350 feet above the town on the immediate southern road.
Gleason is known for using a wide and interesting color palette. By doing so, he transformed diverse compositions into stylistic works that carry his visual identification, and often as well his original artist labels verso. Where marine works were dominant in his output and expertise, this month-plus journey into Mexico produced a wealth of fine sketch images, oil paintings and lasting memories for the artist and his wife to share with us.
