Munal explores the stages of the stridentist poet Germán List Arzubide

Mexico City. Germán List Arzubide –poet, writer and member of the avant-garde artistic movement known as stridentism– is the subject of an exhibition that brings together works in different formats, including painting, sculpture, engraving, puppets and photography, as well as magazines and documents, and can be seen starting today at the National Museum of Art (Munal).

Germán List Arzubide (1898-1998), life is in lettersseeks to trace the different stages of the writer’s career as a journalist, diplomat, cultural promoter and a person with a strong political and social vocation.

Despite having published a long list of poetry collections and books on different subjects, his work began to be recognized only at the end of the 20th century. His first publication was Plebe, anarchist poetry (1925). From this same year is Corner, stridentist poetryOthers followed like The gachupines die y The Stridentist movementboth from 1926. His last publication in life was Puppet theatre, full comedies (1997). The poet promoted this last type of show in Mexico alongside Roberto Lago, Graciela Amador, Germán and Lola Cueto, among others.

List Arzubide was born in the city of Puebla on May 31, 1898. He studied at the Normal School, as well as at the former State College. He joined the struggle of the Mexican Revolution when the brothers Máximo and Aquiles Serdán, also from Puebla, died when they were attacked by troops of the government of Porfirio Díaz, in November 1910.

He fought in the forces of Venustiano Carranza under the orders of Colonel Gabriel Rojano. In 1920 he was forced to flee during the rebellion led by Álvaro Obregón in Agua Prieta.

The beginnings

His taste for literature surfaced in 1921, when he participated in the creation of the magazines He wins y To beThe following year he joined the poet Manuel Maples Arce in the Estridentista movement. List Arzubide acted as propagandist, writer, editor and historian of the group, which also included Arqueles Vela, Miguel Aguillón Guzmán, Salvador Gallardo and Luis Quintanilla.

From 1922 onwards, this group of writers was joined by artists such as the painters Ramón Alva de la Canal, Jean Charlot, Fermín Revueltas and the engraver Leopoldo Méndez. Several of them illustrated the books of the Stridentist writers.

As for sculptors, Germán Cueto and Guillermo Ruiz joined, and Tina Modotti and Edward Weston participated in photography. In music, Silvestre Revueltas is considered a stridentist.

The first avant-garde writing in Mexico was number one in the flyer Actual (1921), stridentist tablet by Maples Arce, considered the manifesto of the movement. Sample rebellion against the established order and also doubts the official explanation of the eventswrites Mireya Maples Vermeersch in the catalogue Maples Arce Donation: National Museum of Art.

Only when the number three appears ActualIn the city of Puebla, the Stridentist avant-garde is officially considered established.

subversion

But what is stridentism? In an interview at the time, Maples Arce explained that “it is not a trend, as some believe, nor a school, as others think… stridentism is a subversion against the reactionary principles that standardize the thinking of the intellectual youth of America.” It was about breaking with the past.

At a certain point, the group lost its publicity, so on April 12, 1924, the first Stridentist exhibition, consisting of poetry readings and the display of paintings, was inaugurated at the so-called Café de Nadie in the Colonia Roma.

The following year, Maples Arce and List Arzubide, among others, settled in Xalapa, a city that was renamed in their works as Estridentópolis. There they carried out extensive editorial, cultural and educational work, and collaborated in the founding of the Universidad Veracruzana, under the auspices of Governor Heriberto Jara, until he was deposed by the federal government. When their protector was deprived, the group dissolved in 1927. A year earlier, List Arzubide had founded the magazine Horizontewhich had 10 issues.

Perhaps the most active artist of the Estridentismo movement was Ramón Alva de la Canal. He is the author of a portrait of List Arzubide from 1925, in which a copy of his poetry collection can be seen Plebe. Also by Alva de la Canal is the oil and Nobody’s Coffee collage (1930). Other pieces that will be on display at the Munal are the engraving Plebe (1926), by Alva de la Canal; The puppeteer (1927), by Roberto de la Cueva del Río, and the engraving Sandinoby Gabriel Fernandez Ledesma.

Legend has it that at the request of Augusto César Sandino, Don Germán carried, wrapped around his body, the flag that the Nicaraguan general had captured from the American interventionists to the Anti-Imperialist Congress in Frankfurt am Main.

List Arzubide received the National Prize for Sciences and Arts in the area of ​​linguistics and literature in 1997.

The exhibition Germán List Arzubide (1898-1998), life is in letters It will be on display until April 20, 2025 at the National Museum of Art, Tacuba 8, Historic Center.