José Montoya (1932–2013), highly regarded for his contributions as an artist, poet, educator and activist, was a pivotal figure in the Chicano movement. José Montoya’s Abundant Harvest: Works on Paper/Works on Life, an exhibition at the Fowler Museum through July 17, honors his life and work with a comprehensive survey that includes nearly 2,000 drawings, along with paintings, poems, sketchbooks, video footage, music and other ephemera.
Montoya often found inspiration in the verdant fields of the San Joaquin Valley and in the farming towns and port cities of postwar California. He humanized the farmworker and understood the back-breaking work of field labor from firsthand experience. A Chicano civil rights activist, he marched alongside Cesar Chavez and advanced the cause of the United Farm Workers movement to bring justice and dignity to agricultural laborers.
Montoya’s works on paper are displayed in nearly 100 boxes that evoke the flat containers and grape trays used to hold the Central Valley’s harvested fruit. The boxes stand in long rows like the rows of grapevines in a vineyard, allowing visitors to walk freely among them and view their contents.
The artist also documented some of the most important civil rights and labor movements of the 20th century.
