ARTIST'S LIFE WORK LIES IGNORED

By JUAN MONTOYA

Art creations that used to be displayed in a landmark building in the heart of downtown Brownsville as a tribute to an illustrator whose paintings graced the pages of some of Europe's brightest literary stars lie heaped in a small, dank room.

The paintings of Carlotta Petrina, once displayed in the old Casa Blanca Hotel at 1452 E. Madison St., depict the artist’s interpretations of classical literary works including the great Renaissance Italian poet Toquato Tasso’s "Jerusalem Delivered."

But they no longer grace the walls of the museum. Now they are stored all together in a room no bigger than a large closet.

A caretaker at the museum said the new owners are interested in selling them, if there is an interested buyer.

The large frame canvas paintings that used to adorn the museum's exhibit rooms are but a tiny part of the late artist’s legacy. Among her works acclaimed by scholars in universities of the United States and the world are included drawings for such classics as John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, John Dryden’s translation of Virgil’s Aeneid, and Douglas Norman’s South Wind.
Books with her illustrations are sold on the Internet and by rare book sellers from New York to San Francisco.

“I walked in one day and looked at some of the paintings in the rooms and I was simply amazed that a person of such talent actually lived in Brownsville and that they are available for the public to see,” said Andres Arguelles, a college student at the University of Texas-Brownsville and Southmost College. “Usually you have to travel to large cities to see works of this quality.”

Born in Kingston, N.Y., in 1901, Carlotta Petrina developed a passion for the classics at a young age. She traveled around the world and visited Italy extensively where she soaked up the works of the great classical artists there.
She then translated her experience to illustrating the classics and taught at Pratt University. Her work garnered her critical acclaim and earned her the respect of literati all around the world. She married Italian-born artist John Petrina, and both gained the respect of Italian literati for their work. She was still painting in 1977, when she died.

According to a Brownsville Society for the Performing Arts review, “ the Casa de Cultura Carlotta Petrina is a charming venue that is near and dear to those that have enjoyed dozens of cultural events held there and many others over the past 7 years. A few moments within its chalky walls, listening to the fountain in the patio, and you'll think you're in Mexico.”
The house itself is considered a historical heritage site by the City of Brownsville. It was built in 1900 for local merchant M.H. Cross, who had large retail stores on both sides of the Rio Grande. It served variously as a store, a bakery, and a hotel .

Today, citrus trees and figs dot the property and the main building is next to the Petrina home, which also hold many of her paintings. A caretaker family now lives in the Cross home, their laundry hanging on clotheslines strung across the brick-lined back patio.

Petrina’s illustrations in Milton's classic book, "Paradise Lost", won her two Guggenheim fellowships. She was a Guggenheim Fellow in 1933 and 1935. She exhibited works from 1990 to 1994 in New York City; in Sangerties, New York; in Brownsville, Texas (where she lived at the time of her death); and in Matamoros, across the Mexican border.
Some of the paintings in the museum deal with Tasso’s "La Gerusalemme Liberata" (Jerusalem Delivered). Its hero was the leader of the first Crusade, Godfrey of Bouillon; its climax was the capture of the holy city. In the 1570s Tasso developed a persecution mania which led to legends about the restless, half-mad, and misunderstood author. He died a few days before he was due to be crowned as the king of poets by the Pope.

Tasso remained one of the most widely read poets by educated Europeans until the beginning of the 19th century.
He composed La Gerusalemme Liberata between the years 1559 and 1575.
After finishing his masterwork, Tasso started to suffer from mental problems and was interned, he never totally regaining his sanity. He was released in 1586 on condition that he would leave Ferrara. At the same time he found himself honored for his Jerusalem, which had gained a huge popularity. Even then, he was invited to Rome by Pope Clement VIII to be crowned Italy's Poet Laureate. However, Tasso became seriously ill and died in Rome on April 25, 1595 before he could accept the honor.

Petrina’s work has been the subject of numerous scholarly theses, and have been featured in permanent exhibits across the country. In 1998, Milton scholar Wendy Furman published a monogram titled “Metaphysical Tears: Carlotta Petrina’s Representation of Paradise Lost, Book IX", which was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press.
Furman visited Petrina at her home in Brownsville before the artist died. The Whittier College scholar has numerous of Petrina’s works in her permanent Galley “Reaching for Paradise.”
Numerous other works attest to the quality of her work, including a film that aired on PBS and cable in 1995 called “Reaching for Paradise: The Life and Art of Carlotta Petrina.”
Over time, the museum has hosted numerous cultural events, including performances by artists during the performing arts society’s Fifth Annual Jazz Festival.
“I’d love for this place to be a center of the Renaissance of downtown Brownsville,” said her late son Tony Petrina, who tried to run the museum in spite of his ill health. “Brownsville should be more than just a bunch of used clothes stores and cheap goods.”