Culture and Context: Latino Artists

Question 1

David Alfaro Siqueiros

Answer 1

1. Mexican painter; one of three Mexican muralists
2. Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros
3. After Mexican Revolution
4. More realistic than the two others, but also show the relationship between colonial and pre-Columbian cultures
5. Marxist political messages
6. All his work is in Mexico City
7. Nueva democracia, Víctimas de la guerra, Víctimas del fascismo, El tormento de Cuauhtémoc, El entierro del obrero sacrificado, Los elementos, Los mitos, and El llamado de la libertad

Question 2

Hernán Cortés

Answer 2

1. Spaniard who founded La Española (Hispaniola/Dominican Republic and Haiti).
2. Later conquered Cuba and arrived in Mexico
3. Conquerer of the Aztecs by an alliance with the Tlaxcaltecs, their enemy
4. Governor and General Captainn of La Española
5. Responsible for other natives in the country’s north

Question 3

Pablo Neruda

Answer 3

1. Chilean poet with Marxist convictions who identified with victims of war, social injustice, and tyranny
2. His works are modernistic and celebrate nature and the American man
3. In 1971, Neruda won the Nobel Prize for Literature for his poetry which included: Crepúsculo, Veinte poems de amor y una canción desesperada, España en el corazón, Residencia en la tierra, Contacto general, Odas elementales, and Cantos ceremoniales

Question 4

Carlos Fuentes

Answer 4

1. Mexican writer best known for his novels which examine Mexican culture seeking a way to preserve it
2. His novels include universal themes and aspects of human psychology
3. Historical fiction: La región más transparente, Las buenas conciencias, Cambio de piel, La muerte de Artemio Cruz, Zona sagrada, Terra nostra, Cumpleaños, La cabeza de hidra, Gringo viejo, Cristóbal Nonato, and La frontera de cristal
4. His writing also contains essays and theater plays, but his novels are most significant

Question 5

Pablo Picasso

Answer 5

1. A Málaga-born Spanish painter
2. Madrid, Barcelona, and Paris
3. Cubist and some surrealist works
4. Book illustrations and ceramics
5. Inspired by the artists El Greco and Francisco Goya
6. Political inspiration
7. Detested Franco’s fascist gov’t, turned to communism
8. Prolific artist whose work is in museums the world around
9. Guernica, Dora Maar au chat, and Massacre en Corréo

Question 6

Plácido Domingo

Answer 6

1. Spanish opera singer known as one of the three most famous tenors of Spain
2. Born in Spain, educated in Mexico
3. Returned to Spain in the 1960’s and became a great success
4. He performed many operas including: Marina, Rigoletto, Lucia di Lammermoor, Carmen, Madame Butterfly, and Don Rodrigo
5. Also performed as a conductor
6. Performed at the New York Metropolitan Museum Opera in 1968, and appeared there the most times
7. Presently the director of the LA Opera

Question 7

Horacio Quiroga

Answer 7

1. Uruguayan writer best known for short stories
2. Lived most of his life in Argentina and also wrote poetry
3. Influenced by Edgar Allen Peo and his stories have elements of horror, American nature, and the supernatural
4. Known as a writer of the bizarre
5. His main work of poetry is “Arrecifes de coral”
6. Stories include: El crimen del otro, Historia de un amor turbio, Cuentos de amor, de locura y de muerte, Cuentos de la selva, Anaconda, and Los desterrados
7. Wrote a short novel: Pasado amor

Question 8

Mario Vargas Llosa

Answer 8

1. Peruvian writer of novels and political narratives
2. As a genre, his works falls into realism
3. Examines the vulgarity of human nature
4. His topics are usually politic in nature
5. 1990 presidential candidate of Peru, and in 2010 received the Nobel Prize for Literature
6. Best known works: Los jefes, La ciudad y los perros, Conversación en la catedral, Pantalón y las visitadoras, Lituma en los Andes, La guerra del fin del mundo, Historia de Mayta, El hablador, and ¿Quién mata a Paloma Montero?

Question 9

Domingo Faustino Sarmiento

Answer 9

1. Argentinian writer, politician, essayist, and novelist
2. President of Argentina from 1868-1874
3. Educator who fought against ignorance, chieftains, and dictatorship
4. In 1845 he wrote his novel Civilicación y barberie, Vida de Juan Facundo Quiroga, also known as Facundo
5. De la educación popular, Las ciento y una, Conflictos y harmonías de las razas de América, Mi defensa, and Recuerdos de provincia

Question 10

Cristóbal Colón

Answer 10

1. Genoese navigator
2. Portuguese King denied him
3. His 3 ships: La Pinta, La Niña, La Santa María
4. Arrived at the New World in October 1492
5. He died believing he’d landed in the East Indies
6. Made several trips to the Americas
7. Not credited until after his death

Question 11

José Martí

Answer 11

1. Cuban writer and politician
2. Wrote modernistic pieces and was a hero of Cuban independence and fought against the Spaniards
3. Message of freedom and liberalism
4. His most important works are Ismalillo, Versos libres, and Versos sencillos
5. Most famous novel: Amistad funesta
6. Wrote articles: Nuestra América, El presidio en Cuba, La República Española ante la revolución cubana, and Bases del partido revolucionario cubano
7. His play cartas de Nueva York is also very well known

Question 12

Jorge Luis Borges

Answer 12

1. One of the best-known Spanish-language writers
2. Born in Argentina, but lived in Europe for some time
3. Besides writing poetry, essays, and stories, he was a professor of English literature at the University of Buenos Aires
4. Founded a literacy movement called Ultraismo
5. Fantastical works dealing with metaphysical problems
6. His genre is cosmovision
7. Most famous works of poetry: Fervor de Buenos Aires, Luna de enfrente, and Cuaderno de San Martin
8. His best known short stories include: Historia universal de la familia, El jardín de los senderos que bifurcan, Ficciones, El Aleph, and Historia de la eternidad

Question 13

Popol Vuh

Answer 13

1. AKA El libra del cones was written in the Mayan-Quiché language
2. Great deal of controversy over who wrote and translated the book
3. The author compiles the Mayan myths that explain the creation of the world, the history of the Mayans, and some Mayan traditions
4. Important source of information about the pre-Columbian Mayans

Question 14

Simón Bolívar

Answer 14

1. Liberator of Venezuela
2. He also helped Perú and Alto Perú (Bolivia) obtain independence
3. Most important independence fighter of SA
4. General who was an educated writer
5. He studied with Andrés Bello and Simón Rodríguez who taught him the ideas of freedom
6. Memoria dirigida a los ciudadanos de Nueva Granada por un caraqueño (1812) and Carta a Jamaica (1815)
7. He also wrote the constitution for the Republic of Bolivia

Question 15

Juan Rulfo

Answer 15

1. Mexican novelist and short story writer
2. Considered the most profound of the 1940’s prose writers
3. His genre is magical realism
4. He created historical stories based on ignorant, poor, and desolated country people
5. Social injustice, hard life, pain, and suffering
6. Fantastic and supernatural use of ghosts as characters
7. He won several awards, even though he only wrote two pieces and a collection of short stories: El llano en llamas, and a novel, Pedro Páramo

Question 16

Miguel Hidalgo (y Castillo)

Answer 16

1. Mexican priest and patriot
2. Father Hidalgo is known as father of independent Mexico
3. On Sep 16, 1810 he gave a cry in Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato, known as the cry of Dolores that started the Mexican war of independence from Spain
4. Important figure in Mexican history who ended slavery and fought for indigenous peoples’ rights
5. Executed by the Realistas after successfully establishing a national gov’t

Question 17

Rubén Diarío

Answer 17

1. Nicaraguan modernist: modernism
2. He searched for ideal beauty in his poetry
3. He also wrote about social problems created by materialism
4. He used novel meter and rhythms that transformed poetry
5. Prosas profundas, Cantos de vida y esperanza, and Canto errante
6. He also wrote prose: Azul, Peregrinaciones, and Historia de mis libros

Question 18

Emilia Pardo Bazán

Answer 18

1. The Countess was a very important novelist from the late-19th C
2. Tried to introduce naturalism to Spain
3. Wrote stories, novels, and poetry
4. Wrote social studies and commentaries that appeared in El imparcial and La ilustración artística
5. Her works deal with the life and customs of Galicia
6. Uses the characters and situations to study the human condition
7. Wrote more than 500 pieces
8. Los pasos de ulloa, La madre naturaleza, Cuentos de la tierra, and La tribuna

Question 19

Miguel de Servantes de Saavedra

Answer 19

1. Wrote most popular Spanish novel Don Quijote de la Mancha in two parts, 1610 and 1615
2. In the above he recounts the adventures of Alonso Quijano, an old man who goes crazy after reading too many chivalric novels
3. In the character’s altered state, he believes he is Don Quijote de la Mancha, a traveling knight
4. Cervantes narrates Don Quijote’s adventures and search for love
5. The most famous scene is when Alonso, believing they are giants, fights against windmills
6. Considered a parody of the chivalric books of the times
7. La galatea, Novelas Ejemplares, and Los trabajos de Persiles Sigismundo, but were never as popular as Don Quijote de la Mancha

Question 20

General Francisco Franco

Answer 20

1. In 1934 he led a campaign against the Republican gov’t and divided Spain between rightists and leftists
2. In 1936 the Spanish Civil War started and lasted 3 years
3. Defeated the Republicans and established an absolute dictatorship
4. Under him, Spain changed significantly
5. Political prisoners included scientists, artists, writers, teachers, and professors
6. Supported by the church and army
7. Oppression, lack of freedom, fidelity to the Catholic Church, and support from the Spanish financial oligarchy until 1975

Question 21

Octavio Paz

Answer 21

1. Mexican poet and essayist
2. Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990
3. Neither an idealist nor a symbolist, unique
4. Loneliness and existential restlessness
5. Poetry: Libertad bajo palabra, Piedra de sol, Salamandra, Ladera este, Topoemas, Pureba del nueve, Arbol adentro, and Obra poética
6. Prose: El laberinto de la soledad, El arco y la lira, Corriente alterna, and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz o las trampas de la fe

Question 22

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

Answer 22

1. Most important American author of lyric poetry
2. She lived in Mexico and wrote poetry, plays, and prose
3. Theme: disadvantages of being a woman
4. A nun who used solitude to escape and hide from the world and from love
5. Representative of the baroque
6. Respuesta a sor Filotea de al Cruz (prose), Primer sueño (poetry), and El divino Narciso, El cetro de José, and El mártir de Sacramento (play)

Question 23

Isabel Allende

Answer 23

1. Born in Peru, but considers herself Chilean, as she moved there with her family when young
2. Fantastic and real
3. Magic realism genre
4. La casa de los espíritus, she follows a Chilean family for four generations, where she examines postcolonial Chilean sociopolitical issues
5. De amor y de sombra, Eva Luna, Cuentos de Eva Luna, El plan infinito, Paula, Hija de la fortuna, La ciudad de las bestias, and Inés del alma mía
6. She continues to write novels, and in 2009, she published Los amigos son los amigos and La isla bajo el mar

Question 24

Julio Cortázar

Answer 24

1. Important Argentine author who wrote stories, essays, and novels
2. Lived in Europe, returned to Argentina to study
3. Great influence in the narrative art
4. Surrealist whose work deals with reality, fantasy, and the absurd
5. Used realistic images of the monstrous to transmit his ideas in his novels
6. Rayuela, Final del juego, Bestializo, Las armas secretas, Todos los fuegos el fuego, Alguien que anda por ahí, Los premios, and Nicaragua tan violentamente dulce

Question 25

José Enrique Rodó

Answer 25

1. Uruguayan writer of modernistic essays
2. Known as the best modernist prose writer
3. Message of warning of North American influence in Latin America
4. He wanted Latin American youth to reject materialism and embrace their own culture
5. Tried to connect modern literature with spiritualism
6. His best known work is Ariel, taken as the intellectual guide for his generation
7. His work deals with democracy, morality, and idealism
8. Important work: Los motivos de Proteo

Question 26

José de San Martín

Answer 26

1. Argentinian general, liberator of Argentina and Chile
2. Fought alongside the Spaniards against the French in Spain’s war of independence, but later fought against the Spaniards for Latin American countries independence
3. With the help of Chilean General Bernardo de O’Higgins, he organized the army of the Andes
4. Unified several independence movements and helped Argentina, Chile, and Peru gain independence
5. AKA protector of Peru

Question 27

Gabriel García Márquez

Answer 27

1. Colombian writer best known for his novel Cien años de soledad
2. Magical realism that seeks to examine the relationships between space and time and expose Colombian life and the relationship between the social and political in everyday life
3. In 1982 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature
4. Other novels include: La hojarasca, El coronel no tiene quien le escriba, El amor en el tiempo de cólera, El general en su laberinto, and Del amor y otros demonios

Question 28

Benito Pérez Galdós

Answer 28

1. Spanish author of realist novels, dramas, and chronicles
2. Best known for his historic novels in which he mixed reality with fiction
3. His main goal was to analyze the origins of the Spanish revolution of the 19th C
4. He wrote Episodios nacionales in which he exposes the intimacy of Spaniards of the 19th C taking into account national historical facts that marked the country’s collective destiny
5. It was a time of crisis for Spain, reflected in his work
6. Doña perfecta, Gloria Fortunata y Jacinta, and Misericordia

Question 29

Miguel de Unamuno

Answer 29

1. Author from the Generation of 98, a group of Spanish writers, essayists, and poets that were affected by the moral, political, and social crisis in Spain in the last decades of the 19th C
2. His message was that Spain needed to abandon its traditions and integrate with Europe
3. In his best known essay, Del sentimiento trágico de la vida, he exposed the conflict between reason and faith
4. Paz en la Guerra, Niebla, Abel Sánchez, La tía Tula, San Manuel Bueno, mártir

Question 30

Félix Lope de Vega

Answer 30

1. Spanish writer of poetry, plays, and prose
2. He founded El Teatro Nacional de España and is known as the father of modern comedy
3. National history and honor
4. His most famous theater pieces include El perro de hortelano, La viuda de Valencia, and Fuente Ovejuna
5. His works in prose include Arcadia, El peregrino, and La Dorotea
6. His poems include: El Isidro, Rimas sacras, La Filomena, and La Circe

Question 31

Federico García Lorca

Answer 31

1. Dramatic pieces, poetry, and theater
2. Super-realist
3. Offers separate world with creations oscillating between reality and fantasy
4. Dramas: Bodas de sangre, Yerma, and La casa de Bernardo Alba
5. Poetry: Libro de poemas, Canciones, Romancero gitano, Poema del cante jondo, and Poeta en Nueva York
6. Lived in NY and studied English at Columbia University
7. Returned to Spain in 1930; in 1936, he was assassinated a few days after the Spanish Civil War started

Question 32

Alfonso X

Answer 32

1. “Alfonso el Sabio” was King of Castilla-León 1252-1284
2. Important because of his decision to use Castilian in the kingdom
3. Castilian became more important than other dialects or languages spoken in the territory
4. During his reign, many revealing works about medieval Spain were written
5. La crónica general de España is such a work revealing about Spanish history

Question 33

José Clemente Orozco

Answer 33

1. Together with Rivera and Siqueiros, Orozco is one of the three main Mexican muralists
2. His works shows different aspects of the human condition after the Mexican Revolution
3. He also focused on pre-Columbian culture
4. Less political than Rivera
5. In his murals, messages of social justice for the working class and native peoples were found
6. His works can be found in Mexico City, Guadalajara, Veracruz, and New York
7. Omnisciencia, Luchas proletarias, La justicia, Riquezas nacionales, Buena vida, and La independencia nacional

Question 34

Celia Cruz

Answer 34

1. Cuban singer known as the queen of salsa, la guarachera de Cuba
2. Cuban-born and later lived in the US
3. She and her music became a worldwide success
4. Her discography includes 23 golden albums
5. Recorded with Tito Puente, Johnny Pacheco, and Ray Barretto
6. Considered the most influential figure of 20th C cuban music
7. Songs: La vida es un carnaval, Le negra te tiene tumbao, Ríe y llora, and Usted abusó

Question 35

Salvador Dalí

Answer 35

1. Spanish surrealist painter
2. Began as a cubist, but under the influence of other Parisian artists, became a surrealist
3. His works can be found worldwide
4. La cesta del pan, El hombre invisible, La persistencia de la memoria, Metamorfosis de Narciso, Madona de Port Lligat, Última cena, and Descubrimiento de América por Colón
5. The Teatre-Museo Dalí is a tourist site in Figures, Spain, where he was born which includes his and paintings from others such as El Greco

Question 36

Francisco Goya

Answer 36

1. Spanish painter b. 1746
2. From baroque, to the rococo, and then to the neoclassicism and expressionism
3. Worked in the Real Fábrica de Tapices de Madrid, and later appointed court painter
4. He was a great influence on modern artists, as he painted what he wanted, not that of the king or church
5. Mainly historical paintings
6. El tres de mayo shows the execution of Spanish soldiers by the French army
7. La maja desnuda, La maja vestida, El dos de mayo, and the series of prints Caprichos

Question 37

Diego Rivera

Answer 37

1. The most famous of the three Mexican muralists, and the most famous muralist in the world
2. Orozco and Siqueiros are the others
3. Influenced by the Renaissance but also the Russian communist movement
4. After the Mexican Revolution, he painted many murals in Mexico City
5. Many of his pieces include the revaporization of indigenous Mexican roots, as well as symbols and historical figures from the colonial period
6. La creación, La leyenda de Quetzalcoatl, Historia de México: de la conquista al futuro, Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central, and La historia de la cardiología are in Mexico City in the Palacio de Bellas Artes, the Escuela Preparatoria Nacional, the Universidad Iberoamericana, and the Palacio Nacional
7. Other works can be found in New York and Detroit