Packing House, Orange, CA circa 1948
Artist
Emigdio Vasquez
(American, 1939 - 2014)
Date2012/2015
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions23 1/2 x 29 1/2 in. (59.7 x 74.9 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineGift of Rosemary Vasquez Tuthill and Steve Tuthill
Object number2023.014
DescriptionArtist Rosemary Vasquez Tuthill’s father, the celebrated muralist Emigdio Vasquez, conceived this painting as a tribute to the women who worked in the Santiago Growers Association packing house on the corner of Cypress Street and Palm Avenue in Orange. (The property, now owned by Chapman University, is in the midst of a preservation and adaptive re-use project that will turn it into a Chapman multipurpose student center and home for College of Performing Arts departments.) Unfortunately, Emigdio had only finished the outline of the painting when he passed away in 2014. Rosemary found it in his studio, and the family encouraged her to finish it. “I was resistant at first, thinking I wouldn’t be able to do it justice,” she said, “but I convinced myself that my father would want his tribute painting completed. Undertaking the responsibility to complete the painting in his style was a milestone achievement for me.” In the painting, the packers are filling crates of Rooster Brand oranges. The women, left to right. are: Esther Luna Poblano, Jenny Ramirez, Connie Alanzo, Beatrice Vasquez Vega, Louise Vasquez Blue and Rita Faliz. Beatrice and Louise are Emigdio’s sisters, thus Rosemary’s aunts.
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