So Near, So Far: Ryan Preciado – Manuel Sandoval, an exhibition at the Palm Springs Art Museum, brings long-overdue recognition to Manuel Sandoval, a Nicaraguan carpenter whose intricate craftsmanship contributed to significant works by Frank Lloyd Wright and Rudolph Schindler. A founding member of Wright’s Taliesin Fellowship, Sandoval worked on notable projects, yet his contributions remained largely unrecorded. Artist and carpenter Ryan Preciado discovered Sandoval’s work while researching a Schindler-designed dining set, leading him to explore the artisan’s history. The exhibition presents original furniture pieces by Sandoval alongside new works by Preciado, emphasizing the role of overlooked artisans in architectural history. Through archival research and artistic interpretation, So Near, So Far ensures Sandoval’s contributions to modernist design are no longer forgotten.
The overlooked legacy of Manuel Sandoval, a Nicaraguan carpenter and early apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright, is being brought to light through So Near, So Far: Ryan Preciado – Manuel Sandoval, an exhibition at the Palm Springs Art Museum. Sandoval, whose detailed woodwork contributed to significant projects by Wright and Rudolph Schindler, remained largely absent from architectural history.
Artist Ryan Preciado, known for integrating sculpture and functionality in his work, became fascinated by Sandoval while researching a 1930s Schindler-designed dining set. Initially hesitant to reproduce another designer’s work, Preciado reconsidered after journalist Andrew Romano, the owner of Schindler’s Walker House in Los Angeles, introduced him to archival photographs by Julius Shulman. The dining set’s distinctive design, featuring inverted-T bases and an unusual use of Russian Ash, intrigued Preciado, leading him to investigate its construction further. During the early COVID-19 pandemic, he came across Sandoval’s name in historical records and became deeply invested in uncovering his story.
Born in Nicaragua in 1898, Sandoval immigrated to the United States around 1917, carrying with him the woodworking skills taught by his father. In 1932, after attending a lecture by Frank Lloyd Wright in Chicago, he sent the architect a telegram detailing his expertise in carpentry and desire to study architecture. Wright invited him to Taliesin, where he was assigned to the woodshop rather than architectural design, a common practice for many of Wright’s apprentices. Sandoval’s craftsmanship became integral to several major commissions, including Edgar Kaufmann Jr.’s mahogany-paneled office, now housed in the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the furniture for Wright’s V.C. Morris Gift Shop in San Francisco. By the late 1930s, he had relocated to Los Angeles, where he worked for designers including Schindler and mid-century graphic artist Alvin Lustig. Despite his skill and contributions, Sandoval’s name remained absent from most architectural archives, reflecting the systemic erasure of artisans behind major design movements. Wright’s letters reveal a dismissive attitude toward him, as seen in a 1937 exchange in which the architect attempted to withhold Sandoval’s fees, making condescending remarks about labor expectations in Latin America.
Preciado’s exhibition reclaims Sandoval’s place in design history through a combination of original works, archival materials, and newly created pieces inspired by the artisan’s craftsmanship. Among the historical objects on display is a 1938 drop-front desk featuring elaborate Mayan Revival carvings and a dining chair from a Schindler project. The exhibition also includes Preciado’s recreation of the Walker House dining set, a challenging undertaking due to the complexity of its curved I-beam-like base. Additionally, Preciado presents new works in tribute to Sandoval, including stools inspired by the V.C. Morris Gift Shop and Atentamente (2024), a small trapezoidal box made of cherry and alder. The piece reimagines an undocumented story in which Sandoval, deeply admiring Wright, preserved a pencil the architect had left behind by crafting a velvet-lined box to store it. Despite exhaustive research, Preciado found no record of the original object and instead chose to give form to the narrative artistically.
Curator Robert J. Kett, who explored Schindler and Wright’s archives in search of records on Sandoval, highlighted the challenges in reconstructing the legacies of overlooked artisans. The limitations of historical documentation often reflect the biases of those who maintain the archives, leaving figures like Sandoval largely invisible. However, while archivists are bound by recorded history, artists like Preciado can reinterpret the past and fill in its gaps through material expression. At the exhibition’s opening, Preciado expressed satisfaction in hearing Sandoval’s name spoken aloud, reinforcing the importance of acknowledging the labor behind architectural masterpieces. Accompanied by a newly published book compiling documents, photographs, and exhibited works, So Near, So Far ensures that Sandoval’s craftsmanship, once obscured, is now recognized as an essential part of modernist architectural history.
