.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Born in 1903, poet, playwright, art critic, and novelist, Xavier Villaurrutia, was an important figure in modern Mexican literature and a member of the Contemporáneos, an avant-garde group of painters, writers, and intellectuals. After attending the elite Escuela Nacional Preparatoria, the precocious talent embarked on a legal career but soon abandoned that path to pursue writing in his native Mexico. During the mid-1920s to the early 1930s, Villaurrutia directed an experimental theatre with his friend, poet Salvador Novo; edited and contributed essays for modernist journals, Ulises and Los Contemporáneos; and translated international authors such as Chekov, Blake and Gide into Spanish.[1] In an essay for Ulises, he took notice of the exciting artistic currents in Mexico praising the innovative muralist project and the work of artists Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco as well as complimenting younger painters not part of the movement such as Rufino Tamayo, Agustín Lazo, Miguel Covarrubias and others.[2] A recipient of a Rockefeller Foundation grant, Villaurrutia enrolled at Yale University to undertake a drama and theater coursework. The prestigious literary prize that bears his name was established after his premature death in 1950.
Roberto Montenegro renders the poet against an enigmatic Mexican mountainous landscape. The colors of this natural setting are other-worldly, almost lyrical. In Montenegro’s composition, the monumental figure of the handsome poet is in slight profile and his gaze is neither, tragic or melancholic, but resolute. His elegant right hand holds a book, the emblem of his role in life as a poet and philosopher. The poet casts a splendid figure of a thoroughly modern man against this ancient vista; his face, resplendent in the light of a radiant Aztec sun.
Margarita J. Aguilar, Doctoral candidate, The Graduate Center, City University of New York
[1] F. Badru, “Antonieta Rivas Mercado y El Teatro Ulises,” Revista de la Universidad Nacional de México, UNAM, No, 486, Julio (1991), 48-50. https://www.revistadelauniversidad.unam.mx/ojs_rum/files/journals/1/articles/13410/public/13410-18808-1-PB.pdf, accessed, Sep. 29, 2017.
2 X. Villaurrutia, "Un cuadro de la pintura mexicana actual," Ulises: Revista de curiosidad y crítica (Mexico City) 1, no.6 (February 1928), pp. 5-12. https://icaadocs.mfah.org/icaadocs/ELARCHIVO/RegistroCompleto/tabid/99/doc/752538/language/es-MX/Default.aspx, accessed Sep. 29, 2017.
Roberto Montenegro renders the poet against an enigmatic Mexican mountainous landscape. The colors of this natural setting are other-worldly, almost lyrical. In Montenegro’s composition, the monumental figure of the handsome poet is in slight profile and his gaze is neither, tragic or melancholic, but resolute. His elegant right hand holds a book, the emblem of his role in life as a poet and philosopher. The poet casts a splendid figure of a thoroughly modern man against this ancient vista; his face, resplendent in the light of a radiant Aztec sun.
Margarita J. Aguilar, Doctoral candidate, The Graduate Center, City University of New York
[1] F. Badru, “Antonieta Rivas Mercado y El Teatro Ulises,” Revista de la Universidad Nacional de México, UNAM, No, 486, Julio (1991), 48-50. https://www.revistadelauniversidad.unam.mx/ojs_rum/files/journals/1/articles/13410/public/13410-18808-1-PB.pdf, accessed, Sep. 29, 2017.
2 X. Villaurrutia, "Un cuadro de la pintura mexicana actual," Ulises: Revista de curiosidad y crítica (Mexico City) 1, no.6 (February 1928), pp. 5-12. https://icaadocs.mfah.org/icaadocs/ELARCHIVO/RegistroCompleto/tabid/99/doc/752538/language/es-MX/Default.aspx, accessed Sep. 29, 2017.