Luis Sanchez Lopez, later known as L. L. Sanchez, was the first artist to create a major work for Urrutia’s garden, and arrived in San Antonio around 1920. The young man lived on Dolorosa Street with his widowed mother, Antonia Lopez. The street was important to the Mexican immigrant community, home to residences and businesses, including a dough mill and offices for the publication El Imparcial de Texas. Porfirio Treviño, the Mexican architect of Urrutia’s home on Broadway, may have occupied the space next door to Sanchez. Sanchez was born in 1894 in Monterrey, Mexico. Treviño and Dionicio Rodríguez also lived in Monterrey for a time before coming to San Antonio. Perhaps Treviño, arriving in San Antonio in 1918, was the connection between Urrutia and these two artists.

Sanchez generally worked in concrete, with a traditional approach to constructing sculptural forms. He began his art education and training at age thirteen with the Decanini family, whom he started working for after the death of his father, Rafael. Antonio Decanini (1878–1948) was an Italian engineer and sculptor in Monterrey, Mexico, where he and his wife are known for their creation of statuary for the city’s Dolores and El Carmen cemeteries. In San Antonio, Sanchez worked for the Rodríguez brothers (unrelated to Dionicio Rodriguez), who established their business in 1920 and were popular manufacturers of monuments and statuary in central Texas. When Urrutia hired Rodríguez Bros. to make several objects for his house garden at Quinta Urrutia, Sanchez’s work, including the head of Coyolxauhqui (koy-yol-SHAUH-key) and the twin entrance lions, impressed him. In 1921, he commissioned Sanchez to create Cuauhtémoc as the first artwork for Miraflores, and later, the molded concrete lintel for the Urrutia arch, which was completed in 1924.

The Coyolxauhqui sculpture was soon after moved to Miraflores, and some years before Quinta Urrutia was demolished in 1962, Sanchez’s twin lions were moved to Miraflores together with the replica of Nike, the Winged Victory of Samothrace.

In 1928 Sanchez moved to Harlingen, Texas, where he created an important public landmark. When South Ward elementary school was built at 309 W. Lincoln Street, a contractor commissioned him for some concrete artwork on the facade. Using concrete molds that he designed, Sanchez created an intricate scene of Quetzalcoatl with snakes on the front entrance doors and complementary designs around the nearby windows. Sanchez reportedly also created the special pigments for the design.

Because of its vibrant design, inspired by Sanchez’s roots in Aztec culture, the school became known as La Escuela de las Víboras (School of the Serpents). The features remain an inspiration to schoolchildren in the area and continue to convey the symbolism of the feathered serpent, Quetzalcoatl, as the messenger of wisdom and knowledge. The school was renamed James Bowie Elementary in 1935, but the Aztec decor and school’s nickname are a respectful reminder of the multiple layers of heritage in this border region. The school recognizes and discusses the symbolism of Sanchez’s work with its students, and connects its positive cultural message with the school’s designation as a top Texas school, “the only Harlingen school to achieve the honor,” from 2007 to 2012.

Sanchez’s work, which is likely the oldest existing public artwork in Harlingen, predates even the public murals of the 1930s Works Progress Administration. The artwork at La Escuela de las Víboras ranks highly among the city’s many murals, which have become a well-known attraction for both visitors and community members.

Sanchez and his wife, Rosa Martinez, raised nine children. Their descendants still live in the Harlingen area. Sanchez died in 1958 at age sixty-two.

This essay, “Luis L. Sanchez—A Young Artist’s Start” will appear in Anne Elise Urrutia’s book, Miraflores: San Antonio’s Mexican Garden of Memory, including additional photographs and footnoted text. A related excerpt, “Cuauhtémoc: Connecting Earth and Sky” appears in the San Antonio Report.

All photographs by Anne Elise Urrutia, unless otherwise noted.

Posted on September 17, 2021. Republished on October 21, 2022