Three exhibitions across Salinas and Monterey celebrate Jo Mora's 150th birthday.

The Uruguayan-born sculptor, illustrator and mapmaker created work that still graces the Carmel Mission and the Monterey County Courthouse in Salinas. Yet Mora, who spent his final decades on the Monterey Peninsula and died in Monterey in 1947, remains relatively unknown outside the region, as Monterey County NOW first reported.

Born Oct. 22, 1876, in Montevideo, Uruguay, Mora built a career spanning bronze sculpture, pictorial maps, books and illustrations. Peter Hiller, who has studied Mora for more than 25 years, said he has never met anyone who learned about the artist and didn't want to know more, according to Monterey County NOW.

Hiller helped secure a home for the Jo Mora Archive when the collection faced the possibility of being split up. The Monterey History & Art Association (MHAA) acquired the archive in 2022, preserving Mora's professional work alongside family photographs, journals and correspondence. That acquisition made the three concurrent shows possible, giving visitors a chance to see original drawings next to the published books they became.

At the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, MHAA archivist Tanya von Giese curated her first exhibition, Like an Octopus: Eight Segments of Jo Mora's Life and Career. The show highlights Mora's range across photography, sculpture, commercial art, illustration, mapmaking, writing and family life. "His greatest artworks aren't even what he's well known for," von Giese said.

Among the items on display are Mora's hand-illustrated birthday cards he called "bologneys." Part greeting card, part family chronicle, they captured each year in playful verse. One card dated June 27, 1944, features a woman balancing two automobiles, miniature family scenes tucked into curling vines and a procession of figures across the top.

At the John Steinbeck Library in Salinas, Susan De Lay curated an exhibition focused on Mora's work as an author and illustrator. Visitors can see his original horseman drawing displayed beside Californios, the book that used the same illustration on its cover. The show also includes A Day with the Hounds, an unpublished, handwritten story.

The third exhibition, Jo Mora & Family: Through the Lens of Lewis Josselyn, is on view at the Stanton Center in Monterey. It features photographs by Josselyn, a friend of Mora's and fellow member of Carmel's Abalone League baseball team. One photograph shows Mora's daughter Patti at the piano, with a lamp her father created and a painting inspired by his Arizona travels behind her. Both original artworks hang alongside the photograph.

Exhibition details

Jo Mora 150 Year Birthday Celebration John Steinbeck Library, 350 Lincoln Ave., Salinas. Open 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Monday and Friday; noon–6 p.m. Tuesday–Thursday. Free admission. Through Dec. 18. (831) 758-7311.

Like an Octopus: Eight Segments of Jo Mora's Life and Career National Steinbeck Center, 1 Main St., Salinas. Open 10 a.m.–5 p.m. daily. $7–$15; free for children 5 and under. Through Dec. 20. (831) 775-4721.

Jo Mora & Family: Through the Lens of Lewis Josselyn Stanton Center, 5 Custom House Plaza, Monterey. Open noon–4 p.m. Thursday–Monday. $10; $8 for seniors and military; free for visitors under 18 and members. Through Dec. 18. (831) 649-9161.