Biography from Nuevo Santander Gallery:
| PORFIRIO SALINAS
Porfiro Salinas was born in Bastrop, Texas on November 6, 1910. He lived most of his life in San Antonio, Texas where he died on April 18, 1973.
He attended the public schools of San Antonio for three years and was largely self taught as an artist. He learned from watching José Arpa, director of the San Antonio Art School, sketch in the streets and fields of San Antonio. He also learned from Robert Wood, a prolific landscape painter, who paid him five dollars a picture to paint in bluebonnets on his canvases because "he hated to paint bluebonnets."
Salinas was conscripted and served in the army from 1943, to 1945. He was assigned to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, where he painted murals for the officers' lounge and other special assignments for Colonel Telesphor Gottchalk, reception center commander. He was allowed to live at home, where he continued his easel painting for the entire duration of his tour of duty.
Although the artist did not receive the attention of the professional art establishment (art galleries, museums, art critics, art historians) he achieved a popular following among many Texans as well as the political leaders of Texas and the United States - among them Lyndon Johnson who began to collect his work in the 1940s. The recognition of his work beyond the borders of Texas dates from Johnson's presidency. This popularity allowed the artist to command high prices for his work. The city of Austin celebrated a Porfirio Salinas Day in 1973. The painter was honored for having "done much to bring the culture of Mexico and Texas closer together with his paintings."
Salinas dedicated himself to painting landscapes of Central Texas with particular attention to the bluebonnets that grow in abundance in the springtime.
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Biography from Altermann Galleries and Auctioneers, Santa Fe - II:
| Porfirio Salinas
Born: Bastrop, Texas 1910
Traditional Southwestern landscapes and genre painter
Born in a piney woods town, Salinas was raised in San Antonio. Selling art supplies, he met Robert Wood and Jose Arpa who took him on field trips. This was the extent of his art education. His earliest commissions were sign painting on beer trucks and Christmas cards. Salinas’ subjects are restricted to the Southwest, bluebonnets, prickly cactus, rugged landscapes, sunny villages, bull fights. His paintings are untitled: “They are whatever they say to the viewer.” As a state present, Pres Johnson gave a Salinas painting to the President of Mexico.
A painting of the hill country intended as a gift for President Kennedy was retained by Salinas, as was the allegorical painting after Kennedy’s death, a lone horse against ominous clouds.
Resource: SAMUELS’ Encyclopedia of ARTISTS of THE AMERICAN WEST,
Peggy and Harold Samuels, 1985, Castle Publishing
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Biography from AskART:
| Porfirio Salinas was a self-taught artist who painted landscapes of Central Texas with an emphasis on the vast bluebonnet fields that grow there in the springtime.
Born in 1910 in Bastrop, Texas, he attended public schools in San Antonio. He also observed works in progress by the director of the San Antonio Art School, Jose Arba, as well as landscape painter, Robert Wood. Wood is said to have paid Salinas five dollars a picture to paint bluebonnets because "he hated to paint bluebonnets".
Salinas served in the military from 1943 to 1945. Although he was assigned to Fort Sam Houston, he was allowed to live at home. At the fort, Colonel Telesphor Gottchalk assigned him to paint murals for the officers lounge and various other projects, and Salinas continued to be able to paint during his entire conscripted period.
Even before he achieved notoriety among galleries, dealers, and museums, Salinas was widely followed and appreciated by many Texans, including former President Lyndon B. Johnson, who may be considered responsible for launching Salinas popularity beyond the boundaries of Texas. In 1973, Texas capital, Austin, honored Salinas for having "done much to bring the culture of Mexico and Texas closer together with his paintings".
Salinas died in April 1973 in San Antonio, Texas.
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