Folk Art in Texas Page: 89
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The Flourishing Pen
By Gerry DoyleA delightful manifestation of folk art in early
Texas was the paraph or, in Spanish, the rdbrica,
a personally designed flourish accompanying, but
not usually attached to, a signature. The appendages
to John Hancock's and Benjamin Franklin's
signatures on the Declaration of Independence have
made these arabesques familiar to us. And Sam
Houston's bold graphic gesture is recognized by every
Texan (Figure 1).
Houston's supplement to his signature, which
dramatically climaxed his correspondence, represents
an art form. Here Houston the scribe becomes
Houston the artist. Folk art collections customarily
include calligraphic drawings, the so-called
"Spencerian drawings" of dove and deer, the pro-
ducts of virtuoso penmen or writing masters. These
showpieces are representational art even when the
creatures are fanciful. But the imaginative adjunct
to a signature goes beyond representation and con-
ventional abstraction to become pure design, a
creative original.
These modest or not so modest poetic outbursts
are seen more prosaically by dictionary makers.
Because they are now uncommon outside the
Hispanic world, and because of etymological scruples,
lexicographers generally resist calling these embel-
lishments by the available cognate rubric. Not so the
paleographers, translators, and transcribers of our
Southwest who have had the most occasion to en-
counter them. They have waived the technicalities
and have appropriated the convenient term, rubric,
for this design phenomenon. These designs are so
commonly found in Texas archival holdings that the
Barker Texas History Center at the University of
Texas in Austin has a catalog of rubrics to aid in
the identification of "unsigned" documents.
Under the word rubric, Webster's New Third In-ternational Dictionary includes as a final meaning
the sense of rubric as paraph, to which word there
is a cross reference. Webster's describes paraph as
"a flourish at the end of a signature sometimes used
as a sort of rude [sic] safeguard against forgery."
But Klara Roman, a graphologist of international
reputation, commented on this forgery safeguard in
the Encyclopedia of the Written Word. "A fancy,
complicated appendage [to a signature] is commonly
thought to serve as added protection against forgery,
whereas in actuality it is the simple stroke [Roman's
italics] which is most difficult to duplicate success-
fully."
Roman adds that the rubric probably had its origin
as a substitute for the seal. Yet oftentimes Spanish
documents carried both rubric and seal. A related
opinion on the origin of the rubric explains that the
rubric authenticated the signature that usually ap-
peared above it. But since the rubric also came to
be used without the signature, as we shall see, and
even took on a legal life of its own, we are forced
to look further.
Because we first associate the device with such
historical figures as John Hancock, Benjamin
Franklin, and Sam Houston-none of whom was
noted for self-effacement-our immediate impression
is that the rubric served solely for self-assur-
ance, display, and/or advertisement. This undoubted-
ly provides a partial explanation in almost every in-
stance, if for no other reason than that the signature
itself is by nature a self-asserting statement. Regal
precedents remind us of this basic function of sign-
ing. We see it at work in the "signatures" of the
Spanish kings who ruled over Texas for some three
hundred years, from the time of Cabeza de Vaca until
the withdrawal of the last Spanish governor. These
bold, sweeping expressions were meant to pro-* 89
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Folk Art in Texas (Book)
This book describes popular folk art of Texas, including basket weaving, hat-making, yard art, sculptures, murals, cemetery art, quilt-making, tattoo art, and other miscellaneous folk art. The index begins on page 198.
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Abernethy, Francis Edward. Folk Art in Texas, book, 1985; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc67647/m1/97/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Press.