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Clemente Soto Vélez

Clemente Soto Vélez
Usage Conditions Apply
Artist
Antonio Martorell, born 1939
Sitter
Clemente Soto Vélez, 1905 - 1993
Date
1977
Type
Drawing
Medium
White crayon on dark paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 51.1 × 66.4cm (20 1/8 × 26 1/8")
Frame: 61 × 74.9 × 7.6cm (24 × 29 1/2 × 3")
Topic
Personal Attribute\Facial Hair\Mustache
Clemente Soto Vélez: Male
Clemente Soto Vélez: Literature\Writer\Poet
Clemente Soto Vélez: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist\Political activist
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; framed with funds from the Smithsonian Women’s Committee
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Copyright
©1991 Antonio Martorell
Object number
NPG.2014.46
Exhibition Label
In response to the economic devastation of rural workers and small landowners by absentee American corporations in Puerto Rico, and the imposition of English in the schools of the Spanish-speaking island, in 1929 the poet Clemente Soto Vélez founded the literary movement El Atalaya de los Dioses (The Watchtower of the Gods) to promote a political and literary revolution against U.S. colonial rule. In 1932 Soto Vélez joined the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, led by Pedro Albizu Campos, and was imprisoned for his political activities and for instigating a sugar strike. Upon his release in 1943 he settled permanently in New York City, where he became active in the American Labor Party and established the Puerto Rican Merchants Association. His poems and plays made him into a renowned Latin American literary figure and a mentor to young artists.
Antonio Martorell made this portrait in preparation for illustrating Soto Vélez’s book-length poem, La tierra prometida, published in 1979.
En reacción a la devastación económica que sufrieron los trabajadores rurales y pequeños agricultores con la llegada de las corporaciones absentistas norteamericanas a Puerto Rico y la imposición del idioma inglés en las escuelas de esta isla hispanohablante, en 1929 el poeta Clemente Soto Vélez fundó el movimiento literario Atalaya de los Dioses para promover una revolución política y literaria contra el dominio colonial de Estados Unidos. En 1932 Soto Vélez se unió al Partido Nacionalista Puertorriqueño que dirigía Pedro Albizu Campos, y fue encarcelado por sus actividades políticas y por instigar una huelga azucarera. Al salir de la cárcel en 1943 se radicó permanentemente en la ciudad de New York, donde estuvo activo en el American Labor Party y estableció la Puerto Rican Merchants Association. Sus poemas y obras teatrales le dieron fama en Latinoamérica como figura literaria y mentor de artistas jóvenes.
Antonio Martorell hizo este retrato en preparación para ilustrar el libro La tierra prometida, un extenso poema de Soto Vélez publicado en 1979.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Location
Currently not on view