Lot Essay
In Tonight We Ride John Moyers depicts a band of soldiers of the Mexican Revolution as they draw up battle plans in the earth. This work likely includes perhaps the best known figure of the revolution, Jose Doroteo Arango Arambula, better known as Pancho Villa, who was part fugitive, part hero. Forming his own army to oppose the Mexican dictator, Villa roamed the northern territories of Mexico between 1910 to 1920, seizing land and wealth from nobles for redistribution to the less fortunate. Moyers has rendered the scene with accurate period dress and accessories, including the elaborate saddle at lower left, which recalls in its style that of Villa himself.