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removed Category:Concrete sculptures; added Category:Concrete art using HotCat

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[[Image:SATeaGarden02.JPG|thumb|Entrance of the [[San Antonio Japanese Tea Gardens|Japanese Tea Gardens]] in [[San Antonio, Texas|San Antonio]], [[Texas]]]]
'''Dionicio Rodríguez''' (1891–1955) was a [[Mexico|Mexican]]-born [[artist]] and [[architect]] whose work can be seen in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico, Tennessee, and Texas, as well as Washington, D.C., and Mexico City.

His work is noted for its unique style of [[concrete]] construction that imitates [[wood]], known as ''[[Faux Bois]]'' (French for ''false wood''). Gates, benches and artificial rock formations were created by the artist to invite visitors to rest or explore the landscape.

Many of his major works of art are listed in the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2007a}}</ref><ref name=arkansas>{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=64000021}} |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: The Arkansas Sculptures of Dionicio Rodriguez |author=Julie Vosmik |date=October 9, 1986}}</ref><ref name=texas>{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=64500904}} |title=National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation: Sculpture by Dionicio Rodriguez in Texas |author=Patsy Light and Maria Pfeiffer |year=2004}}</ref>

==Biography==
Rodríguez was born on April 11, 1891, in [[Toluca]], [[State of Mexico]], in [[Mexico]] to Catarino Rodríguez and Luz Alegria de Rodríguez. His family moved to [[Mexico City]] when he was young. When he was older, he worked with his father and brother as a [[bricklayer]].<ref name=light>Patsy Pittman Light. ''Capturing Nature: The Cement Sculpture of Dionicio Rodriquez''. Texas A&M University Press, College Station, 2008. p 19.</ref> Sometime later in Mexico City Rodríguez was hired by Luis Robles Gil, a contractor and civil engineer, and by J.W. Douglas who Rodríguez made cement objects for. <ref name="texas" />

Rodríguez, with letters of recommendation from Douglas and Gil, left Mexico City in the early 1920s for [[Monterrey]], Mexico. In Monterrey he met up with Máximo Cortés’ father who told Rodriquez that he should move to Laredo to work with his son.<ref name="texas" /> He moved on to [[Laredo, Texas]] shortly after and met up with Máximo Cortés, a fellow artisan, who was currently working on casting cement embellishments for a school.<ref name="texas" /> They worked with each other briefly before Rodríguez left for [[San Antonio]]. He arrived in [[San Antonio]] in 1924 and briefly worked at the Alamo cement company (1924-1925). <ref name="texas" />

Rodríguez died at the Robert B. Green hospital in [[San Antonio]] on December 16, 1955, he was 64 when he passed and he was buried at the San Fernando Cemetery #2. <ref name="texas" /> He had no immediate survivors. Unknown if he ever married, his death certificate claims he’s a widower but there’s no proof she actually exists. <ref name="texas" />

==Works==

===San Antonio===
{{main|San Antonio Japanese Tea Gardens}}
For the [[San Antonio Japanese Tea Gardens|Japanese Tea Gardens]] in San Antonio, Rodríguez replicated a [[Japan]]ese [[Torii]] gate at the entrance to the [[gardens]]. This piece was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005

With the rise of [[anti-Japanese sentiment]] of [[World War II]] in the 1940s, the gardens were renamed the [[China|Chinese]] Tea Gardens. In 1984, the city restored the original "Japanese Tea Garden" designation in a ceremony.

At least eight of his other sculptures in San Antonio: the Buckeye Park Gate; the Bridge in Brackenridge Park; the [[Fence at Alamo Cement Company]]; the [[Fountain at Alamo Cement Company]]; the Jacala Restaurant; locations in Miraflores Park; the Stations of the Cross and Grotto at the Shrine of St. Anthony de Padua; the Trolley Stop in Alamo Heights, were also added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004 and 2005

===Memorial Park Cemetery===
[[Image:Crystal Shrine Grotto.jpg|thumb|right|Crystal Shrine [[Grotto]] in the [[Memorial Park Cemetery (Memphis, Tennessee)|Memorial Park Cemetery]], [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]], [[Tennessee]], 2007]]
{{main|Memorial Park Cemetery (Memphis, Tennessee)}}
In 1935 Rodríguez was hired to beautify the [[Memorial Park Cemetery (Memphis, Tennessee)|Memorial Park Cemetery]], [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]], [[Tennessee]], with [[sculptures]]. ''Annie Laurie Wishing Chair'', ''Broken [[Tree]] [[Bench (furniture)|Bench]], Abrahams [[Oak]]'', ''Pool of [[Hebron]]'' and ''[[Cave]] of [[Machpelah]]'' are some of the most important sculptures that can be found throughout the [[cemetery]].<ref Name=MemParkMem>http://www.memorialparkfuneralandcemetery.com/history.aspx {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080117184013/http://www.memorialparkfuneralandcemetery.com/history.aspx |date=2008-01-17 }} Memorial Park Cemetery website</ref>

===Cedar Hill Cemetery===
{{main|Cedar Hill Cemetery (Suitland, Maryland)}}
Working in Cedar Hill Cemetery just outside [[Washington, D.C.]], in suburban [[Suitland, Maryland]], in 1936 and 1937, Rodríguez built numerous sculptural pieces, including a fallen tree bench, a tiled block bench, two bridges with branch railings and log decks, a tree shelter, and an Annie Laurie Wishing Chair.<ref name="CHC">''The Sculptures of Dionicio Rodriguez'', Cedar Hill Cemetery, 4111 Pennsylvania Avenue, Suitland, MD 20746, 20 Jan 2014.</ref>

===Crystal Shrine Grotto===
Construction of the Crystal Shrine [[Grotto]] began in 1938. The grotto is a 60-foot (18.3-meter) deep, hand-built [[cave]] in a hillside near the [[Centre (geometry)|center]] of the cemetery, filled with five [[ton]]s (4.5 metric tons) of [[quartz]] [[crystal]], hence the name ''Crystal Shrine Grotto''.<ref Name=MemParkMem/> The [[shrines]] in the grotto illustrate the stages of "[[Christ]]'s Journey on the [[Earth]] from [[Birth]] to [[Resurrection]]". Rodríguez' sculptures and the Crystal Shrine Grotto in the Memorial Park Cemetery are listed in the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris"/>

===Woodlawn Garden of Memories===
At least five of the sculptural pieces in the Woodlawn Garden of Memories in [[Houston]] are the work of Rodriguez circa 1940: the 25-foot (7.6-meter) tall cross and its surrounding four benches; a flower planter basket; a 60-foot (18.3-meter) long fallen tree bench; and an [[Annie Laurie]] Wishing Chair.

===Other works===
*[[Aviary at the Houston Zoo]], 1513 N. McGregor [[Houston, TX]], NRHP-listed
*[[Buckeye Park Gate]], 1600 W. Wildwood [[San Antonio, TX]], NRHP-listed
*[[Chinese Sunken Garden Gate]], Brackenridge Park, 400 N. St. Mary's St. [[San Antonio, TX]], NRHP-listed
*[[Couchwood]], 601 Couchwood Rd., [[Shorewood Hills, AR]], NRHP-listed
*[[Crestview Park]], Crestview and Cherry Hill Drives, [[North Little Rock, AR]], NRHP-listed
*[[Dionicio Rodriguez Bridge in Brackenridge Park]], 400 N. St. Mary's St. [[San Antonio, TX]], NRHP-listed
*[[Eddingston Court]], 3300 Proctor St. [[Port Arthur, TX]], NRHP-listed
*[[Elmwood Cemetery (Birmingham, Alabama)|Elmwood Cemetery]], 600 Martin Luther King Jr Dr, [[Birmingham, AL]]
*[[Fence at Alamo Cement Company]], 7300 Jones Maltsberger Rd. [[San Antonio, TX]], NRHP-listed
*[[Fountain at Alamo Cement Company]], 7300 Jones Maltsberger Rd. [[San Antonio, TX]], NRHP-listed
*[[Gate, Fence and Hollow Tree Shelter Designed by Dionicio Rodriguez]], 320 Oak St. [[Clayton, NM]], NRHP-listed
*[[Gazebo for Albert Steves]], 105 FM 473, at east portion of property [[Comfort, TX]], NRHP-listed
*[[Gazebo for James Richard Marmion]], 1214 County Rd. [[Sweeny, TX]], NRHP-listed
*[[Jacala Restaurant]], 2702 N. St. Mary's St. [[San Antonio, TX]], NRHP-listed
*[[Lakewood Park (North Little Rock, Arkansas)|Lakewood Park]], Address Restricted [[North Little Rock, AR]], NRHP-listed
*[[Little Switzerland (Shorewood Hills, Arkansas)|Little Switzerland]], Address Restricted [[Shorewood Hills, AR]], NRHP-listed
*[[Miraflores Park]] (seven works), 1184 E Hildebrand Ave. [[San Antonio, TX]], NRHP-listed
*[[Palapa Table for James Richard Marmion]], 1214 County Rd. [[Sweeny, TX]], NRHP-listed
*[[T. R. Pugh Memorial Park]], 3800 Lakeshore Drive, [[North Little Rock, AR]], NRHP-listed
*[[Sculptures of Dionicio Rodriguez at Memorial Park Cemetery]], 5668 Poplar Ave. [[Memphis, TN]], NRHP-listed
*[[Stations of the Cross and Grotto at the Shrine of St. Anthony de Padua]] (grotto and 14 stations), 100 Peter Baque Rd. [[San Antonio, TX]], NRHP-listed
*[[Trolley Stop in Alamo Heights]], 4900 blk of Broadway [[Alamo Heights, TX]], NRHP-listed
*[[Woodlawn Garden of Memories Cemetery]], 1101 Antoine [[Houston, TX]], NRHP-listed


==Further reading==
*{{cite book | title=Capturing Nature: The Cement Sculpture of Dionicio Rodriguez | publisher=Texas A&M University Press | author=Light, Patsy Pittman | year=2008 | isbn=978-1-58544-610-0}}

==See also==
{{Commons category|Dionicio Rodriguez}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=503 EncyclopediaOfArkansas.net
* [http://www.tamupress.com/product/Capturing-Nature,681.aspx ''Capturing Nature: The Cement Sculpture of Dionicio Rodriguez''], a book about Rodriguez's work
*[http://studiocortes.com/ Studio Cortes], the professional website of Carlos Cortes, great-nephew of Dionicio Rodriguez, who is carrying on the family artistic tradition

{{Dionicio Rodriguez}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Dionicio}}
[[Category:Mexican sculptors]]
[[Category:Mexican male sculptors]]
[[Category:Mexican architects]]
[[Category:Concrete art]]
[[Category:1891 births]]
[[Category:1955 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Toluca]]
[[Category:Mexican emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:20th-century sculptors]]

Dionicio Rodriguez - Revision history

imported>Zygmeyer: removed Category:Concrete sculptures; added Category:Concrete art using HotCat