Best known to advertising historians and art collectors as the creator of the famous “Chief” marketing icon for the Santa Fe Railroad, Hernando Gonzallo Villa (1881-1952) was born in Los Angeles. His parents had come to L.A. in 1846 from Baja California. His father had a painting studio on the central Plaza de Los Angeles, and young Villa studied at the Los Angeles School of Design and in England and Germany. One of the great American commercial artists of the mid-20th century, Villa painted and designed ads for the Santa Fe Railroad for more than 40 years. His “Chief” character – a proud Native American chieftain in full feather headdress – was the advertising trademark of the Santa Fe Railroad for many years, seen by millions of people as emblematic of the freedom and adventure of the American West. Villa also depicted many other facets of the traditional and changing West, in landscapes, figurative works and historical paintings; in oils, watercolors, pastels and charcoal. He won a gold medal for a mural he exhibited at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (San Francisco) in 1915, and exhibited his works extensively in and around Los Angeles.

Mary Platt, Director

Image:
Hernando Gonzallo Villa (1881-1952)
"Portrait with Poppies"
1938
Watercolor
The Hilbert Collection