Winter 2024

120 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 2 4 structures. “They also initiated the Path of History,” says current President Gary Spradlin. Designed by Carmel architect Robert Stanton, the two-story building near Old Fisherman’s Wharf was dedicated in 1991 and initially housed the Museum of Monterey (MoM). The heart of that collection was the maritime artifacts collected by Carmel resident Allen Knight, a musician, politician and onetime merchant seaman. A huge Fresnel lighthouse lens formerly installed at Point Sur Light Station stood at the museum’s entrance, guiding visitors in with its focused light. Later, the building was leased to a businessman who displayed his col- lection of Salvador Dalí prints, and the center’s theater housed a professional magic show. Jo Mora’s cartes are the subject of an exhibit running through August 2025. The centerpiece is an original printing plate of one of his posters. Photo: Kelli Uldall J oseph Jacinto Mora, known as “Jo” was an important early 20th century artist who spent the last three decades of his life in Carmel and Pebble Beach. His works here include sculp- tures, paintings and the sarcophagus of Father Junipero Serra at the Carmel Mission. Among his best-known works are the whimsical and highly detailed maps—or “cartes”—he created of many different locales. Mora painted the first of these poster- sized cartes in 1926, appropriately depicting the Monterey Peninsula. Subsequent works include The Americas, North American Indians, Los Angeles, Salinas Rodeo and Cowboys, Yosemite and Santa Catalina Island.They are finely detailed, and it would take many hours to explore all the vignettes depicted on them—but they would be hours well spent, as Mora’s sense of humor and the obvious love he had for his subjects shines through. On display in the museum is a rare original printing plate of one of the posters. The exhibit was curated by Monterey History and Art volunteer Scott Gale. “But I had a lot of help,” he says, “espe- cially from Jo Mora historian and biogra- pher Peter Hiller.” Hiller says that Mora was “a great businessman. He would print up a batch of cartes, put them in the trunk of his car and drive around the Southwest, selling them to trading posts for a buck. He was supporting his family 100 percent through his art, constantly thinking of ways to put food on the table.” Interestingly, he was doing this during the darkest days of the Great Depression. This exhibition was made possible by the fact that the entire trove of art belonging to the Jo Mora Trust was pur- chased by the association. The collection contains many more of his works, including sculptures and original sketches and art. Today, these cartes are sought-after collectibles. They’re still being produced digitally, but originals sell for thousands of dollars. The Jo Mora exhibit will be on display until August 2025. The Cartes of Jo Mora