Jo Mora, Yosemite, 1945 [1931]

Before Joseph Jacinto “Jo” Mora became known and beloved as a writer and illustrator of children’s books (as well as a cartoonist, sculptor, painter, muralist, engraver, and photographer), he worked as a cowboy while studying and recording the history of California ranches in the early years of the twentieth century. He later drew upon his own remarkable experiences to create charming books and fanciful pictorial maps—which he called cartes—mainly of California and featuring such locales as Los Angeles, San Diego, Monterey, Carmel by the Sea, and 17 Mile Drive (Pebble Beach) where he made his home in 1922. Applying his skill as a cartoonist, he loaded the maps with humorous, and accurate, pictorial references to local history, ethnography, and social anecdotes that deftly captured the peculiarities of place. He produced the maps from 1927 until 1945, two years before his death in 1947.

“Yosemite” is one of several pictorial maps that Mora created of national parks. Others in the series include the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. Containing hilarious vignettes and jocular captions, “Yosemite” shows tourist attractions, natural formations, local culture, and animals, and in general pokes fun at the “national park experience.” Demonstrating that nothing has changed since 1931 when Mora drew the map, tourists are feeding the bears, bears are invading campgrounds, traffic is bumper to bumper, and children are bored and petulant. Examples of Mora’s pun-based interpretations of natural formations include a bishop in miter and with crosier straddling the peaks of Cathedral Spires, a cloud in an easy chair relaxing at Cloud’s Rest, and a bride about to toss her bouquet over Bridal Veil Falls. The map bears a copyright of 1931 and is a vintage print; however, it may actually have been published in 1945 when Mora printed a second edition of his maps.

Mora was born in Uruguay in 1876 and formally studied art in New York and Boston. Following his stint as a cowboy, he lived from 1904 to 1906 among the Hopi and the Navajo Indians in Arizona and New Mexico, learning their language and observing their customs. Eventually, Mora was adopted by both tribes and allowed to take what turned out to be the last photographs of their religious ceremonies, an invaluable anthropological record now housed in the Smithsonian Institution. From 1900 until his death, he wrote and illustrated books for children and on California history. He was able to master virtually every artistic medium that he attempted. As an astute observer, he created art that eloquently and accurately described the western land and the way of life he admired. This is a wonderful, whimsical view of Yosemite by one of the foremost pictorial mapmakers of the 20^th century.