Conchtown Weather Bureau
Mario Sanchez (1908–2005) is one of Florida's most well-known folk artists. This memory painting is titled "Conchtown Weather Bureau." In the painting Sanchez is capturing hurricane preparations on a Key West street. In the upper left quadrant you can see the hurricane warning flags flying.
Sanchez’s grandparents moved to Key West from Cuba in the 1860s to work in the cigar industry. When Sanchez was in his twenties he started creating colorful wooden relief-carved works of Key West street scenes. Sanchez depicted real people, buildings, and events in Key West, and many of these scenes are based on his childhood memories. His work provides a whimsical and personal view of everyday life in early twentieth-century Key West. (Collection of the Museum of Florida History, donated in the memory of Gerald Jahoda.)
