Helmuth Stone Gallery
Lot 465
Tom McNeely (Canadian, B. 1935) "Cesar Chavez" Signed lower right. Original Watercolor painting on Paper. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. This painting is the original painting which was published on the Fleetwood First Day Cover for the U.S. 37c Chesar Chavez stamp issued May 22, 2003. Cesar Estrada Chavez was born on March 31, 1927, on a small farm near Yuma, Arizona. After losing their land during the Great Depression, Chavez's family was forced to migrate throughout the Southwest, laboring in fields and vineyards and living in a succession of migrant camps. In 1952, Chavez was working in apricot orchards outside San Jose when he became involved with the Community Services Organization (CSO), a self-help group created by Saul Alinsky's Chicago-based Industrial Areas Foundation. Within months, Chavez was a full-time organizer with the CSO, coordinating voter registration drives, fighting racial and economic discrimination and organizing new CSO chapters throughout the region. Named general director of the CSO in 1958, he resigned four years later to found the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA). In September of 1965, Chavez began leading what became a five-year strike by California grape pickers and a nationwide boycott of California grapes that rallied millions of supporters across the country. His subsequent battles against agribusinesses led to the signing of many bargaining agreements. In 1966, the NFWA merged with another labor group to form what became known in 1971 as the United Farm Workers of America (UFW). Cesar Chavez was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994 in recognition of his nonviolent activism and tireless support of working people. Image Size: 18 x 15.5 in. Overall Size: 22 x 18.5 in. Unframed. (B17064)
