Himself designated a National Historical Landmark by the National Council on the Arts, O'Neil Ford with his associates designed some of the most famous architectural landmarks in Texas and elsewhere in the nation: the Texas Instruments Semiconductor Building in Dallas, the Little Chapel in the Woods at Texas Woman's University, campuses of the University of Texas at San Antonio, Skidmore College in New York, and Trinity University, San Antonio. The list of credits goes on and on for this remarkable architect who brought an indigenous Southwestern flair to homes, public buildings, and businesses. From the mid-1930s until his death in 1982, Ford was a pied piper for young architects, and the message he piped was always the same: sensitivity to the nature of materials the earth provided; concern for timelessness and the performance of a building over the long haul; adaptability to changing needs; and innovative approaches to budgetary constraints. In short, he advocated and practiced the building of structures that are expressions of something real and lasting. With 36 full-color photographs and 124 black-and-white pictures, this volumes lavishly illustrates his vision and his legacy. O'Neil Ford was controversial, paradoxical, contradictory. No one who knew him or his work was lukewarm about him. Nor was he lukewarm about others. In his world there were only heroes and villains; the villains were the vulgarians. Ford, long considered a leader of the Modern movement in the Southwest, was grieved by the concept of architecture as a product of superficial fashion with current "vocabularies" and design by stylish formulae. Now, in the "post-Post-Modern" epoch, his words again ring fresh and true, and his culturally well-grounded architecture inspires anew. Through extensive interviews with Ford and scores of others and using Ford's diaries (1951-82), Mary Carolyn Hollers George has traced Ford's life and work, as well as the cast of characters who peopled his world. His close, and eventually prominent, friends contributed immensely not only to his own development but to the artistic milieu of a budding Southwestern regionalism. Also part of the mix were the young architects who flowed through Ford's office, being inculcated with his ways of of dealing with materials and his belief in the unity of structural and architectural forms, and who are still influencing the design understandings of today.

O'Neil Ford, Architect (Volume 1) (Sara and John Lindsey Series in the Arts and Humanities)

History

George, Mary Carolyn Hollers

Americas

Texas A&M University Press

Life and times of the artist with many photos and illustrations as well as many color and black & white plates of the artist's works.

Mary Bonner: Impressions of a Printmaker

Arts & Photography

Trinity Univ Pr

Mary Bonner: Impressions of a Printmaker is the definitive account of the life of an iconic Texas artist known for her delicate etchings and prints of the places and people that make South Texas unique. Mary Bonner begins with the artist’s early years in San Antonio and continues through her awakening as an artist at the Woodstock colony in upstate New York in summer 1922 to her years in France under the instruction of master printmaker Édouard Henri Léon. In Paris, Bonner began entering her work in juried exhibitions, and these early Paris prints were met with some acclaim. She came into her own when she began experimenting with a more innovative and modern style, exemplified by Les cowboys, a three-part frieze inspired by memories of her family’s ranch in Texas.After several years of dedicated study in Paris, Bonner began splitting her time between San Antonio and Paris. By 1928 she had begun to take on the causes of art and conservation in San Antonio, devoting less time to her own work. She spent the last years of her life at the family residence in San Antonio and died in 1935 at age forty-eight. Bonner’s legacy, both as an accomplished artist and as a steadfast advocate for the arts, lives on, especially in San Antonio.Mary Bonner is copublished with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Villa Finale. The book will accompany a retrospective of Bonner’s work at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio. This edition includes a new preface, an introduction by McNay curator Lyle Williams, and an afterword by Jane Lewis, director of Villa Finale.

History & Criticism

Maverick Books

Virtually every San Antonio citizen over a certain age with any interest in literature will have vivid memories of Rosengren’s Books. It was the absolute center of literary culture not only in San Antonio, but in Texas, for decades. Indeed, from the 1930s to the 1980s, Rosengren’s Books was considered one of the finest bookstores between New York and San Francisco. It was a mid-continent haven for writers as diverse as Frost, John Dos Pasos, J. Frank Dobie, and Larry McMurtry. Rosengren’s Books: An Oasis for Mind and Spirit is the story of a great American family of independent booksellers and the important literary institution they created. Beginning as a rare book store in Chicago, Frank and Florence Rosengren brought the store to San Antonio, Texas, in 1935. Located in various downtown locations, it became most well known as the charming book shop behind the Alamo, where it was visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists from around the world. At the heart of the story is Florence Rosengren, whom former San Antonio mayor Phil Hardberger calls the “Sylvia Beach of South Texas” and Texas Observer founding editor Ronnie Dugger described as “the chief guardian of civilization from here to Mexico City.”

Rosengren's Books: An Oasis for Mind and Spirit

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Wings Press

A family business frequently involves enough drama to fill a book--this one in fact. Pearl Sets the Pace tells the story of two landmark companies and a mighty dynasty. It begins in 1883, with the arrival of German brew master Otto Koehler in the bustling city of San Antonio, Texas. He establishes himself as one of the founders of a firm that eventually becomes the Pearl Brewery. In 1914, his murder at the hands of a disgruntled mistress becomes front-page news across the nation. Emma, his grieving (but tough-as-nails) widow, assumes leadership of the company and keeps it afloat during the dark days of Prohibition. In 1941, Margaret Bosshardt one of Emma's granddaughters, marries David Earl Pace. After World War II, the young couple formulate a secret recipe for Mexican salsa. Like mad scientists, they experiment in their home kitchen and try out their concoctions on friends. From such humble beginnings grew a mighty enterprise, a real-world manifestation of the American Dream. By the early 1990s, Dave and Margaret's picante sauce was the top-selling Mexican food condiment in the world. Their descendants sold the business to the Campbell Soup Company for $1.1 billion. Through murders and mistresses, Depression and divorces, booms and busts, a passion for product sustained the Koehler-Pace clan. To make something, not simply for their neighbors to buy, but also something that would become integral to their daily lives. That became their defining principle. Yes, it defined them, but it also characterized their city. Can anyone really imagine San Antonio without beer and picante sauce? This is the story of a proud, complicated, and interwoven family and the two great enterprises they wrangled. But it is also the story of a unique Texas city and the people it breeds. It's a business story, a family story, and a story of a thriving, modern city; it is also our story.

Pearl Sets the Pace

State House Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by George, Mary Carolyn Hollers. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by George, Mary Carolyn Hollers

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by George, Mary Carolyn Hollers. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

O'Neil Ford, Architect (Volume 1) (Sara and John Lindsey Series in the Arts and Humanities)

Mary Bonner: Impressions of a Printmaker

Mary Bonner: Impressions of a Printmaker

Rosengren's Books: An Oasis for Mind and Spirit

Pearl Sets the Pace