Richard E. Ahlborn's Books

Mission San Xavier del Bac

A Guide to Its Iconography

By: Yvonne Lange,Richard E. Ahlborn

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Mission San Xavier del Bac

A Guide to Its Iconography

By: Yvonne Lange,Richard E. Ahlborn

Unique among mission churches of the northern borderlands of colonial Mexico for its ornate architecture and rich iconography, San Xavier del Bac south of Tucson is a pilgrimage destination for countless devotees and tourists. Passing through the façade entry to stand in the nave, one is dazzled by the transept and sanctuary altarpieces of sculpture niches and baroque pilasters, as well as the expanse of the frescoed ceiling. This book is the first study of the iconography at San Xavier since its restoration in the 1990s by an international team of professional conservators. It expands our understanding of the numerous Catholic images and emblems of San Xavier through a close analysis of the newly revealed iconographic elements and an interpretation of the significance of their placement. It also proposes that the selection of specific religious themes and their locations was determined by an unfamiliar convention based on a tree-like design, in which the founder of a religious Order appears as the root and followers above in later branchings—an inversion of the more familiar top-to-bottom hierarchy. Historians Lange and Ahlborn identify all the saintly images and religious elements that adorn San Xavier and suggest how and why they are so arranged. They examine the sculptures and paintings of the church from the façade throughout the cruciform interior in order to determine the organizational concepts that underlie their placement. They note that the selection of images in this Franciscan mission follows traditional Roman Catholic practice for decorating churches in order to instruct novices and reinforce the teaching of conversion in a pictographic catechism of Church doctrine. In short, the book is a dictionary of religious personages and symbols that will help the visitor identify the biblical stories and people portrayed, as well as associated signs and symbols. Entries include a description of the subject, its location, appropriate cross-references, and a bibliography. Recent illustrations by photographer Helga Teiwes and a floor plan facilitate the location of images by visitors. A handsome, large-format book featuring more than one hundred photographs and supporting line illustrations, Lange and Ahlborn’s work confirms the significance of San Xavier’s iconography for art historians, students of religion, and visitors alike. It is both an incomparable guide and valuable reference source for the famed mission’s magnificent artistic heritage.

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Page Count

199

Publisher

University of Arizona Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0816544964

ISBN 13

9780816544967

Cowboys of the Americas

By: Richard W. Slatta

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Cowboys of the Americas

By: Richard W. Slatta

Lavishly illustrated with photographs, paintings, and movie stills, this Western Heritage Award-winning book explores what life was actually like for the working cowboy in North America. "If you read only one book on cowboys, read this one".--Journal of the Southwest.

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Page Count

430

Publisher

Yale University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0300056710

ISBN 13

9780300056716

The Cowboy Encyclopedia

By: Richard W. Slatta

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The Cowboy Encyclopedia

By: Richard W. Slatta

Over 450 entries provide information on cowboy history, culture, and myth of both North and South America.

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Page Count

504

Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company

Published Date

ISBN 10

0393314731

ISBN 13

9780393314731

Comparing Cowboys and Frontiers

By: Richard W. Slatta

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Comparing Cowboys and Frontiers

By: Richard W. Slatta

Historians of the American West, perhaps inspired by NAFTA and Internet communication, are expanding their intellectual horizons across borders north and south. This collection of essays functions as a how-to guide to comparative frontier research in the Americas. Frontiers specialist Richard W. Slatta presents topics, techniques, and methods that will intrigue social science professionals and western history buffs alike as he explores the frontiers of North and South America from Spanish colonial days into the twentieth century. The always popular cowboy is joined by the fascinating gaucho, llanero, vaquero, and charro as Slatta compares their work techniques, roundups, songs, tack, lingo, equestrian culture, and vices. We visit saloons and pulperias as well as plains and pampas, and Slatta expertly compares clothing, weather, terrain, diets, alcoholic beverages, card games, and military tactics. From primary records we learn how Europeans, Native Americans, and African Americans became the ranch hands, cowmen, and buckaroos of the Americas, and why their dependence on the ranch cattle industry kept them bachelors and landless peons.

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Page Count

346

Publisher

University of Oklahoma Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0806129719

ISBN 13

9780806129716

Book's by Richard E. Ahlborn

Mission San Xavier del Bac

Mission San Xavier del Bac

Cowboys of the Americas

Cowboys of the Americas

The Cowboy Encyclopedia

The Cowboy Encyclopedia

Comparing Cowboys and Frontiers

Comparing Cowboys and Frontiers

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