Rafael Squirru
Encyclopedia
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
poet, lecturer, art critic and essayist.
Biographical notes
Born and raised in Buenos AiresBuenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, Squirru was educated at Saint Andrew's Scot School and at the Jesuit El Salvador Secondary School. He graduated with a Law Degree at the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
in 1948.
After founding the Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art
Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art
The Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art known locally as the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires or MAMBA is a modern art museum located in Buenos Aires, Argentina....
in 1956, he went on to champion the cause of Argentine and Latin American art as Director of Cultural Affairs (1960) in the government of Arturo Frondizi
Arturo Frondizi
Arturo Frondizi Ercoli was the President of Argentina between May 1, 1958, and March 29, 1962, for the Intransigent Radical Civic Union.-Early life:Frondizi was born in Paso de los Libres, Corrientes Province...
. Among his many initiatives of that period, Alicia Penalba’s sculptures and Antonio Berni
Antonio Berni
Delesio Antonio Berni was a figurative artist, born in Rosario, province of Santa Fe, Argentina. He worked as a painter, an illustrator and an engraver. His father, Napoleón Berni, was an immigrant tailor from Italy...
’s etchings were sent to the Sao Paolo and Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
s respectively, both artists obtaining First Prize.
Named Cultural Director of the Organization of American States
Organization of American States
The Organization of American States is a regional international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States...
(OAS) in 1963 with headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, he continued his task of promotion of North and Latin American culture until his resignation in 1970. It was at this time that he supported the construction of the impressive memorial monument to U.S. President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
by Uruguayan artist Lincoln Presno in Quemú Quemú, a vast deserted plain in the Argentine province of La Pampa; his outspoken inauguration speech as official representative of the OAS, pronounced during the military government of General Juan Carlos Onganía
Juan Carlos Onganía
Juan Carlos Onganía Carballo was de facto president of Argentina from 29 June 1966 to 8 June 1970. He rose to power as military dictator after toppling, in a coup d’état self-named Revolución Argentina , the democratically elected president Arturo Illia .-Economic and social...
, won public acclaim while provoking angry reactions on the part of the authorities present, earning him the local government’s condemnation as persona non grata
Persona non grata
Persona non grata , literally meaning "an unwelcome person", is a legal term used in diplomacy that indicates a proscription against a person entering the country...
, revoked a few years later.
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
during the Eighties.
Several volumes of Squirru’s poetry and prose writings have been published over the years, most of which are today out of print and considerably difficult to find.
His correspondents include such personalities as Henry Miller
Henry Miller
Henry Valentine Miller was an American novelist and painter. He was known for breaking with existing literary forms and developing a new sort of 'novel' that is a mixture of novel, autobiography, social criticism, philosophical reflection, surrealist free association, and mysticism, one that is...
, Fernando Demaría
Fernando Demaría
Fernando Demaría is an Argentine poet, philosopher and classical scholar.Demaría studied at Buenos Aires’ Colegio Champagnat, run by the priests of the Marian Order, whose dedication and rectitude represent a cornerstone in the poet’s life.He then graduated in Philosophy at the University of...
, Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton, O.C.S.O. was a 20th century Anglo-American Catholic writer and mystic. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, he was a poet, social activist, and student of comparative religion...
, Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper was a prominent American realist painter and printmaker. While most popularly known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching...
, Ned O'Gorman
Ned O'Gorman
- Biographical notes :Born Edward Charles O'Gorman to Annette de Bouthillier-Chavigny and Samuel Franklin Engs O'Gorman in New York City, Ned O'Gorman spent most of his early life in Southport, Connecticut, and Bradford, Vermont. In 1950, he graduated from St. Michael's College in Vermont and later...
, Sir Herbert Read
Herbert Read
Sir Herbert Edward Read, DSO, MC was an English anarchist, poet, and critic of literature and art. He was one of the earliest English writers to take notice of existentialism, and was strongly influenced by proto-existentialist thinker Max Stirner....
, Edward Albee
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III is an American playwright who is best known for The Zoo Story , The Sandbox , Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , and a rewrite of the screenplay for the unsuccessful musical version of Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's . His works are considered well-crafted, often...
, Julio Cortázar
Julio Cortázar
Julio Cortázar, born Jules Florencio Cortázar, was an Argentine writer. Cortázar, known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, influenced an entire generation of Spanish speaking readers and writers in the Americas and Europe.-Early life:Cortázar's parents, Julio José Cortázar and...
, Alejandra Pizarnik
Alejandra Pizarnik
Alejandra Pizarnik was an Argentine poet.-Life and work:She was born on April 29, 1936 to Russian Jewish immigrant parents in Avellaneda, a suburb of Buenos Aires, Argentina. A year after entering the department of Philosophy and Letters at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Pizarnik published her...
, Jackie Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
, Alberto Ginastera
Alberto Ginastera
Alberto Evaristo Ginastera was an Argentine composer of classical music. He is considered one of the most important Latin American classical composers.- Biography :...
, Leopoldo Marechal
Leopoldo Marechal
Leopoldo Marechal was one of the most important Argentine writers of the twentieth century.- Biographical notes :...
, Emilio Pettoruti
Emilio Pettoruti
Emilio Pettoruti was an Argentine painter, who caused a scandal with his avant-garde cubist exhibition in 1924 in Buenos Aires. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Buenos Aires was a city full of artistic development...
, Antonio Berni
Antonio Berni
Delesio Antonio Berni was a figurative artist, born in Rosario, province of Santa Fe, Argentina. He worked as a painter, an illustrator and an engraver. His father, Napoleón Berni, was an immigrant tailor from Italy...
, Leonardo Castellani
Leonardo Castellani
Leonardo Castellani , was an Argentine essayist, novelist, poet and theologian.Born in Reconquista, Santa Fe, Castellani was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 1930, he studied Philosophy and Theology in Rome. Back in his country, he worked in the Catholic press and went into politics as a...
and Marco Denevi
Marco Denevi
Marco Denevi was an Argentine award-winning author of novels and short stories, as well as a lawyer and journalist. His work is characterized by its originiality and depth, as well as a criticism of human incompetence. His first work, a mystery called Rosaura a las diez , was a Kraft award...
.
Books
Art criticism- Barragán, Buenos Aires, Galería Rubbers, 1960.
- Leopoldo PresasLeopoldo PresasLeopoldo Presas was an Argentine artist. He experienced different styles throughout his life. He had academic training and started as a figurative painter though he later turned into expressionism as well. He tried several mediums as oil, tempera, charcoal and pencil on different supports including...
, Buenos Aires, El Mangrullo, 1972. - Pérez CelisPérez CelisCelis Pérez was an Argentine artist usually referred to as Pérez Celis. He earned international recognition for his paintings, sculptures, murals and engravings.-Life and work:...
, Buenos Aires, Ediciones del Hombre Nuevo, 1973. - Albino Fernández, Buenos Aires, La Barca Gráfica, 1975.
- Antonio Berni, Buenos Aires, Dead Weight, 1975.
- Guillermo Roux, Buenos Aires, Dead Weight, 1975.
- Pintura, pintura, siete valores argentinos en el arte actual, Buenos Aires, Ediciones Arte y Crítica, 1975.
- Luis SeoaneLuís SeoaneLuis Seoane was a lithographer and artist. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on June 1, 1910, of Galician immigrants, he spent much of his childhood and youth in Galicia . He was educated in A Coruña...
, Buenos Aires, Dead Weight, 1978. - Liberti, Buenos Aires, Dead Weight, 1978.
- Arte de América: 25 años de crítica, Buenos Aires, Gaglianone, 1979.
- Héctor Giuffré, Buenos Aires, Gaglianone, 1980.
- BatuzBatuzBatuz is an artist, philosopher and cultural activist. He is the founder of the Société Imaginaire, an undertaking that strives for cultural dialogue...
(con D. Ronte, R. A. Kuchta e C. Heigl), New York, Rizzoli International Publications, 1981. - Buenos Aires y sus esculturas, Buenos Aires, Manrique Zago, 1981.
- Eduardo Mac Entyre, Buenos Aires, Gaglianone, 1981.
- Aldo Severi, Buenos Aires, Dead Weight, 1982.
- Arte argentino hoy. Una selección de 48 artistas, Buenos Aires, Gaglianone, 1983.
- Juan Del Prete, Buenos Aires, Gaglianone, 1984.
- Mariano Pagés: 1945-1983, Buenos Aires, 1984.
- Four Contemporary Painters from Argentina: Horacio Bustos, Pérez Celis, Kenneth Kemble, Juan Carlos Liberti, University of Florida, 1986.
- Miguel Ocampo, Buenos Aires, Gaglianone, 1986.
- Kenneth Kemble, Buenos Aires, Gaglianone, 1987.
- Elena Tarasido: la opción de la libertad, Buenos Aires, Instituto Salesiano de Artes Gráficas, 1988.
- Inés Bancalari 1976-1987, Buenos Aires, Gaglianone, 1988.
- Cuarenta maestros del arte de los Argentinos (with I. Gutiérrez Zaldivar), Buenos Aires, Zurbarán, 1990.
- Gyula Kosice: obras Madi, Buenos Aires, Gaglianone, 1990.
- Quinquela: popular y clásico, Buenos Aires, 1990.
- Juan M. Sánchez, Buenos Aires, Ennio Ayosa, 1991.
- Mara Marini, Iglesias Kuppenhein, 1992.
- Carpani cabalga al tigre (con M. Vincent), Madrid, Ollero y Ramos, 1994.
- Roma Geber. Imágenes urbanas, Buenos Aires, Arte al Día, 1997.
- Leopoldo Torres Agüero, Fragments Editions, 1999.
- Perez Celis (with Frederick Ted Castle and Peter Frank), Shapolsky, 1999
Art criticism in verse
- 49 artistas de América: itinerario poético, Buenos Aires, Gaglianone, 1984.
Poetry
- La noche iluminada, Buenos Aires, Ediciones del Hombre Nuevo, 1957.
- Amor 33, Buenos Aires, Ediciones del Hombre Nuevo, 1958.
- Números, Buenos Aires, Ediciones del Hombre Nuevo, 1960.
- Awareness of Love (poetical comment on the work of Juan Downey), Washington D.C., H.K. Press, 1966.
- Poesía 1957-1966, Buenos Aires, Dead Weight, 1966.
- Poesía 1966-1970, Buenos Aires, Juárez, 1970.
- Poesía 1970-1971. La edad del cerdo y otros poemas, Buenos Aires, Dead Weight, 1971.
- Poesía 1971-1973. Quincunce americano, Buenos Aires, Dead Weight, 1973.
- Poesía 1973-1975. Cuaderno de bitácora, Buenos Aires, Dead Weight, 1975.
- Poesía 1975-1977. La Corona, Buenos Aires, Dead Weight, 1977.
- Números. Veinte años de poesía (1957-1977), Buenos Aires, La Barca Gráfica, 1977.
- Chrysopeya del buen amor, Buenos Aires, Albino y Asociados, 1986.
Essays
- Filosofía del arte abstracto, Buenos Aires, Museo de Arte Moderno, 1961.
- Leopoldo Marechal, Buenos Aires, Ediciones Culturales Argentinas, 1961.
- The Challenge of the New Man. A cultural approach to the Latin American scene, Washington D.C., Pan American Union, 1964.
- Towards a World Community, Chicago, Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1968.
- Martin FierroMartín FierroMartín Fierro is a 2,316 line epic poem by the Argentine writer José Hernández. The poem was originally published in two parts, El Gaucho Martín Fierro and La Vuelta de Martín Fierro . The poem is, in part, a protest against the modernist tendencies of Argentine president Domingo Faustino Sarmiento...
(with other authors), Buenos Aires, Instituto Salesiano de Artes Gráficas, 1972. - Claves del arte actual, Buenos Aires, Troquel, 1976.
- Ángeles y Monstruos. Ensayos Breves, Buenos Aires, Gaglianone, 1986.
- Hacia la pintura: como apreciarla, Buenos Aires, Editorial Atlántida, 1988
- Exigencias del arte, Buenos Aires, Zurbarán, 1989.
- El artista y su tiempo, Buenos Aires, Rozenblum, 1991.
- Arte y humanismo, Buenos Aires, Fundación Praxis, 1993.
- Libros y libros, cuadros y cuadros, Morón, Universidad de Morón, 1995.
Translations
- William ShakespeareWilliam ShakespeareWilliam Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, HamletHamletThe Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
, Buenos Aires, Dead Weight, 1976. - William Shakespeare, La tempestad, Buenos Aires, Biblioteca Nacional, 1979.
Drama
- El Rey Salomón (drama bíblico en tres actos), Buenos Aires, Marchand Editorial, 1980.
Quotes
ProseOn the importance of culture
- The time has come when it must be acknowledged that art and thought are more than just a luxury: they are the abstract symbol of a community’s deepest longings.
- We should be careful not to raise economic and social issues above the level where they naturally belong for when that happens, we shall have succumbed to the pathetic idolatry of the golden calf.
- We are pained not so much by the ignorance of those who cannot read, as by the ignorance of those who cannot see.
- Our enemy is not man but stupidity.
- I can see no higher privilege for a society than that of having the intellectual and the poet in its midst.
- Societies will not tolerate a state of spiritual vacuum.
On the cultural identity and importance of Latin America
- The great nations of Spain and Portugal, England and Scotland, Ireland and other European countries have given being to our communities and, happily for Latin America, in combination with the blood of the native Indian peoples which runs through our veins, sustaining and nourishing us.
- Latin America is underdeveloped economically. Latin America is not underdeveloped culturally.
- In the realm of creative achievement, many among the best artists, composers, writers and intellectuals of today are to be found in Latin America.
On the functions of art
- The purpose of art and thought is to reveal to man his true essence putting him face to face with his deeper self.
- Art is like a mirror and every man reacts to a work of art according to what he himself is.
- Very often what art reveals to man is something he would prefer not to see; that explains why art has so many detractors.
On the responsibilities of artists and intellectuals
- The poet must be a part of the world but he cannot be its creature.
- I cannot agree to reduce or limit the creative act to the needs and levels of sociological considerations.
- A poet is neither a politician nor an economist nor a sociologist. The intellectual, the artist and the creative mind does not adhere to this or that partial aspect of man but to man himself.
- The great legacies of any culture - whether their creators be called Aeschylus, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Kafka or Picasso - move us today because they present man with his problems, his pains and his joys, which are far more lasting than his social, political or economic condition.
- Those who have pledged themselves to the major revolution of the spirit must firmly refuse the compromise of minor revolutions and the distraction of partial goals.
On Communism in Latin America
- The Marxist alternative might well carry out a revolution, as in Cuba, but it would never be our own and would thus bring all the frustration that incompatibility implies.
- Take away the images of the Saints and you will get the image of Lenin in no time.
- Communism overruns any country which does not possess its own mystique.
(The above quotes are all excerpts from Squirru’s addresses delivered at the Panamerican Union in Washington D.C. between 1963 and 1964, which can be found in their entirety in The Challenge of the New Man. A cultural approach to the Latin American scene, Washington D.C., Pan American Union, 1964.)
Books on Rafael Squirru
- Augusto Rodríguez Larreta, El Arte y Rafael Squirru. Ediciones del Hombre Nuevo, Buenos Aires 1951
- Marta Campomar, Rafael Squirru - ojo crítico y palabra creadora. Ediciones de arte Gaglianone, Buenos Aires 1997.
- Eloisa Squirru, Tan Rafael Squirru!, Ediciones El Elefante Blanco, Buenos Aires 2008.
Distinctions
- Doctor Honoris Causa in Humanities, University of NeuquénNeuquénNeuquén is the name of the following things:* Neuquén, Argentina* Neuquén Province* Neuquén River* Neuquén Group...
, Argentina
- Doctor Honoris Causa in Humanities, University of Morón, Argentina
- Konex Platinum Award in Visual Arts, Konex FoundationKonex FoundationKonex Foundation is an Argentine cultural non-profit organization created in 1980 to promote, stimulate, help, and participate in any form of cultural, educational, intellectual, artistic, social, philanthropic, scientific or sports initiative, work, and enterprise, in their most relevant aspects,...
, Buenos Aires
- Gratia Artis Prize of the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes, Argentina
- Honorary Member of The Association of The Corcoran Gallery
- Consultant Member of the CARI (Consejo Argentino Relaciones Internacionales) of Buenos Aires
- Honorary Member of the Miguel Lillo Foundation, San Miguel de Tucumán, Argentina
- Honorary Member of the Academia de Bellas Artes of Chile
- Lorenzutti Foundation Prize for Art Criticism
External links
- Zurbarán Gallery's Tribute to Rafael Squirru.
- El Poeta, fiel al amor, essay.
- Newspaper La Nación's tribute for Squirru's 80th birthday.
- "Rafael Squirru" Hall at Casapueblo
- Thomas Merton's Correspondence
- "Cabalgando el Tigre" by Rafael Squirru
- Konex Prizes
- Alejandra Pizarnik letter to Rafael Squirru
- Rafael Squirru, un largo combate por el arte.
- http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/suplementos/libros/10-3342-2009-02-08.html