Gladys Roldan de Moras: A National Award-Winning Mexican and Western Art Painter
Gladys Roldan de Moras, Mexican Dancer Series. Photo by Ricardo Romo.
Gladys Roldan de Moras is La Reina [Queen] of American Western art. Since entering Western art shows, she has become the first Latina inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. She is also the first woman and Latina to win the prestigious Prix de West prize awarded by the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
Gladys Roldan de Moras, “Annie Moras.” [Daughter of the Moras]. Photo by Ricardo Romo.
Gladys Roldan de Moras, the Bullfighter Series. Photo by Ricardo Romo.
Growing up in her native town of Monterrey, Mexico, Moras visited museums frequently and spent hours studying the published works of artists such as John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, and Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida. Her parents’ desire for her to study medicine led her, at age sixteen, to enroll in pre-med courses at Monterrey Tech.
While in college, she met Rafael Moras, an engineering student whom she would eventually marry. After their marriage, they moved to Austin, where Rafael Moras enrolled in the University of Texas Engineering graduate program, and Gladys continued her studies in pre-med, eventually earning an undergraduate degree at UT Austin. Following a complicated pregnancy, Gladys chose to give up on the study of medicine and pursue art.
Gladys Roldan de Moras, Escaramuzas Series. Photo by Ricardo Romo.
When her husband accepted a post at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, teaching engineering, Glady began her training at the Coppini Academy of Fine Arts. She found an excellent teacher and mentor in the notable realist painter Dan Gerhartz. Her first big breakthrough came in 2013 at the American Impressionist Society when she won a National Juried Exhibition “Best of Show.”
Charros are a part of Moras’s DNA, and many of her paintings are visual narratives of the Charro experience. The Charro tradition is a defining cultural symbol that originated in Mexico after Spain’s conquest in 1521. Charros, the iconic Mexican horsemen, initially appeared as ranch workers on haciendas, particularly in Central Mexico. The Charreria is rooted in equestrian competitions brought by Spanish colonizers and shaped by indigenous communities.
Gladys Roldan de Moras at her studio. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Charros are known for their unique attire, embellished suits, leather chaps, and wide-brimmed sombreros. Moras has studied the paintings and drawings of early Mexico to make certain that her work represents them accurately. Her maternal grandfather, one of the founders of the Federación Nacional de Charros, taught Moras how practical ranch work over time developed into the sport of charrería, featuring skill-based competitions that celebrate horsemanship, roping, and livestock management. The charro tradition was initially designed for practicality but evolved into a source of national identity and pride. The charrería was institutionalized in the early twentieth century with the foundation of formal Mexican organizations.
Gladys Roldan de Moras, Escaramuzas Series. Photo by Ricardo Romo.
Charro culture migrated to Texas in the early 1700s, as Mexican ranch workers introduced charrería practices, which influenced the rise of the American rodeo. Cities such as San Antonio maintain robust charro associations, with regular charreadas woven into local festivities and bicultural identity. Moras’ painting of a young charra in a purple dress with a bright red shawl wrapped around her waist is striking. The charra is shown about to place the reins on her horse. The leather and metal buttons are carefully shown. The saddled horse stands still as the charra adjusts the reins.
Gladys Roldan de Moras, Escaramuzas Series. Jefferson State Bank. Photo by Ricardo Romo.
Today, the charro and the charras stand as symbols of artistry and cultural linkage between Mexico and Texas. By preserving equestrian competitions, distinctive costumes, and family-based gatherings, the charreadas continue to unite communities across both sides of the border, marking a shared heritage of ranch life, community, and mutual respect.
In 2016, UNESCO recognized charreadas as an Intangible Cultural Heritage. Charreadas showcase ten official events, most of which are male-dominated, but the tenth, the escaramuza, features female riders called charras, who demonstrate their skills in choreographed sidesaddle riding while dressed in colorful Adelita outfits—an homage to the women of the Mexican Revolution.
Moras’s rendition of the San Antonio escaramuza [women charros] in front of the famed Rose Window of San Jose Mission reveals her exceptional attention to detail and her ability to present her subjects and their horses realistically. In the painting, the horses appear almost real, and every intricate detail of the girls’ blouses and sombreros is carefully crafted.
Gladys Roldan de Moras, “Las China Poblanas.” Photo by Ricardo Romo.
Women’s inclusion in charreadas reflects both continuity and adaptation in the Mexican tradition. In her paintings, Moras frequently draws on nostalgic family memories and festive Mexican customs. She is active in the local Charreria events in San Antonio. Although she is admired for her paintings, she is also known for supporting the purchase of the young girls’ escaramuzas costumes.
Gladys Roldan de Moras, Mexican Dancers Series. Photo by Ricardo Romo.
The escaramuzas costumes are beautifully painted in one of Moras’s works at the Jefferson State Bank lobby in San Antonio. Steve Lewis, CEO of the bank, acquired several of Moras’s paintings at Western art shows over the years. He was very familiar with Moras’s work, and when the bank built its new headquarters, Lewis contracted Moras to complete a large 10ft by 10ft painting. The painting, “Escaramuza Blessing at Mission San Jose de Aguayo,” hangs on a giant wall on the ninth floor of the bank’s headquarters. The Escaramuza depicts a priest at the entrance of the San Jose Mission Church delivering a blessing to nine young girls accompanied by their horses. The girls are dressed in traditional blue dresses, cowboy boots, and wide-brimmed Mexican sombreros with every detail exquisitely rendered.
Moras takes pride in painting women in traditional Mexican dresses, and her painting of the “China Poblana,” one of her most striking paintings, won the Frederick Remington Painting Award for Artistic Merit, the prestigious honor presented annually during the Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition & Sale held at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.
Gladys Roldan de Moras at her studio. Photo courtesy of the artist.
The Mexican China Poblana represents both a historic cultural figure and a symbolic traditional dress originating from Puebla, Mexico, during the colonial and national periods. The term refers both to Catarina de San Juan, a 17th-century Asian or Filipina woman enslaved and brought to New Spain, and to her traditional dress. Her dress style became the 19th‑century female archetype and costume that came to represent Mexican identity and femininity. Although she was commonly called “China,” the term in that era referred broadly to people from Asia, not specifically China. Catarina de San Juan’s image evolved into a romanticized national symbol after she died in 1688.
By the late 1800s, the china poblana dress had become a recognizable style associated with working-class women of Puebla and later with Mexican nationalism. The china poblana wore a white, embroidered blouse revealing her neck and shoulders and a colorful skirt heavily decorated with sequins and embroidery.
Gladys Roldan de Moras, Escaramuzas Series. Jefferson State Bank. Photo by Ricardo Romo.
The dress was formalized as a national icon to represent femininity in post-colonial Mexico. The costume was notably exhibited at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1889 as emblematic of Mexican womanhood and beauty. Today, the china poblana remains a staple in Mexican folkloric dance, especially in ballet folklórico performances, and continues to serve as a visual emblem of Mexican heritage.
Moras paints daily in a fabulous studio with 25-foot glass walls that she and her husband helped design. The glass walls face north for maximum sunlight, a preferred direction among artists. She invites emerging artists into her studio to encourage their work. Harriett and I visited her a day after she had hosted 15 local artists whom she had been mentoring.
In recent years, commissions for her large paintings have grown. Moras noted that she has had to decline some important mural commissions because she prefers not to work on a scaffold. The intense study and detailed representation in each work demand long hours in her studio. Each painting is a treasure that contributes to her goal of correctly and authentically representing her Mexican cultural heritage.
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Copyright 2025 by Ricardo Romo. All photo and painting credits as indicated above.