Carlos Pellicer Cámara (10 January 1897 – 16 February 1977) was part of the first wave of modernist Mexican poets and was active in the promotion of

Mexican art Various types of visual arts developed in the geographical area now known as Mexico. The development of these arts roughly follows the history of Mexico, divided into the prehispanic Mesoamerican era, the colonial period, with the period after ...

, pictures, and literature. An enthusiastic traveler, his work is filled with depictions of nature and a certain sexual energy that is shared with his contemporary

Octavio Paz Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and ...

Biography

Pellicer was born in

Villahermosa Villahermosa ( , ; "Beautiful Village") is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Tabasco, and serves as the municipal seat (governing county) of the state. Located in Southeast Mexico, Villahermosa is an important city because o ...

on 10 January 1897. The young Pellicer studied in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

. In August 1921, along with

Vicente Lombardo Toledano Vicente Lombardo Toledano (July 16, 1894 – November 16, 1968) was one of the foremost Mexican labor leaders of the 20th century, called "the dean of Mexican Marxism ndthe best-known link between Mexico and the international world of Mar ...

Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...

, José Clemente Orozco and Xavier Guerrero, he founded the Grupo Solidario del Movimiento Obrero ("Solidarity Group of the Workers' Movement"). He lectured in modern poetry at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and served as the director of the Department of Fine Arts. He helped establish a number of museums, including the Frida Kahlo and Anahuacalli museums in Mexico City. There is a small archeology museum named for Carlos Pellicer in

Tepoztlán Tepoztlán () is a town in the central Mexican state of Morelos. It is located at in the heart of the Tepoztlán Valley. The town serves as the seat of government for the municipality of the same name. The town had a population of 14,130 inhabit ...

, Morelos. In 1976 he was elected to the Senate, representing Tabasco for the PRI. His early poems, as in ''Colores en el mar'' (Colors in the Sea, 1921) and ''Piedra de sacrificios'' (Stone of Sacrifice, 1924), often depicted serene and halcyon landscapes. During his later period, however, Pellicer explored the historical and spiritual implications of his experience of nature. Octavio Paz said of his work: "A great poet, Pellicer taught to us to see the world through different eyes, and in doing so modified Mexican poetry. His work, poetry with a plurality of sorts, is solved in a luminous metaphor, an interminable praise of the world."

References

1897 births 1977 deaths 20th-century Mexican poets 20th-century Mexican male writers Mexican male poets Writers from Tabasco People from Villahermosa National Conservatory of Music of Mexico faculty 20th-century Mexican politicians Members of the Senate of the Republic (Mexico) Institutional Revolutionary Party politicians Politicians from Tabasco {{Mexico-writer-stub