Recent Acquisition: Dennis Chavez by Francisco Passalacqua

Dionisio “Dennis” Chavez (1888–1962) was the first native-born Hispanic elected to the United States Senate, where he served from 1935 to 1962. A strong advocate for civil rights and education, he sought to represent the diversity within minority communities.

Chavez dropped out of school in eighth grade in order to work for a local grocery store. In his spare time, he spent many hours in the library reading books on politics and Thomas Jefferson. A job as a Spanish interpreter for a New Mexican politician led him to a job in Washington and a law degree from Georgetown. After becoming a member of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1930, he ran for the Senate in 1934 against Republican Bronson Cutting. Chavez was defeated, and argued that the outcome was a fraud. Before the case was resolved, Bronson died in a plane crash, and Chavez was chosen to fill the Senate seat.

One of the greatest accomplishments of Chavez’s Senate career included his involvement with the Fair Employment Practices Committee. His participation provided an instrument to end job discrimination for minorities. His New York Times obituary notes,He never forgot his Spanish ancestry, which was political wisdom in New Mexico, where 40 per cent of the population speaks Spanish. The loyalty of this ethnic bloc returned him to Congress for term after term. Mr. Chavez was elected to the House of Representatives in 1931 and served for four years before entering the Senate.

His political achievements spurred O. Roy Chalk, the president and chairman of Transportation Corporation of America, to commission this portrait and to present it upon the twenty-fifth anniversary of Chavez’s service in the U.S. Senate. Chavez suffered a fatal heart attack in 1962, not long after the unveiling of the portrait.

Depicted with his arms crossed and a cigar in hand, Chavez is rendered both stern and sincere. Artist Francisco Passalacqua portrayed the senator through a meticulous pointillism technique in a hand-carved granite slab. The smooth finish reveals the natural elements of the stone; the chiseled engravings add a stark value contrast.

The image influenced the design of a United State Postal Service stamp representing Chavez, part of the Great American Series. Given to the National Portrait Gallery by Chavez’s daughter, Gloria Chavez Tristani, this work is displayed in the “Twentieth-Century Americans” exhibition on the museum’s third floor.

—Ashley Gawronski, Collections Information and Research Intern, National Portrait Gallery

Cited: “Senator Chavez, 74, Is Dead in Capital,” New York Times, November 19, 1962.