Snapshots of the San Fernando Valley

About the Portfolio

Each of the 8 prints on this page are from the portfolio Snapshots of the San Fernando Valley icompleted by Frank Romero 2000 as a visual record of the social, cultural, and industrial landscape of Southern California’s San Fernando Valley.

Executed in Romero’s bold graphic style, the images depict iconic elements of postwar Southern California life, including freeway interchanges, drive-in movie theaters, orange groves, aerospace imagery, ranching, and domestic scenes. Taken together, the suite reflects Romero’s long-standing engagement with place, memory, and cultural identity — central themes throughout his work as a founding figure of the Chicano art movement and a member of Los Four.

Each print is a relief impression from a carved woodblock, printed on fine art papers including Moulin du Verger and Lana Gravure. The image size of each print measures approximately 10¼ × 7¾ inches, on sheets measuring 16½ × 13 inches. The portfolio was printed by master printer Claudio Sticklar at CS Fine Art in La Crescenta, California.

The prints presented here are individually signed and numbered, preserved in excellent condition. They come from the collection of a former employee of one of the companies that originally commissioned the project, and have remained intact since publication.