Josep Vicenç Foix i Mas (; 28 January 1893 in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

– 29 January 1987) was a Catalan poet, writer, and

essayist An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

. He usually signed his work by using the abbreviation J.V. Foix.

Biography

Born in

Sarrià, Barcelona Sarrià () is a neighborhood in the ''Sarrià-Sant Gervasi'' district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Its main street is Major de Sarrià. Former municipality Today what was the old municipality is divided into various neighborhoods and distric ...

, Foix was the son of a baker. He started a university degree in law, but gave it up after the second year. Later, he worked in the family business as well as reading classic masterpieces of literature by authors such as

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

and

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics ...

. Foix remained rooted to the place where he was born, even after the conclusion of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. Foix's work had a consistent liberal tone; he was also involved in introducing

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

ideas to

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

. In 1916, Foix began to collaborate with ''La Revista'' and started to become interested in avant-garde art. He found work among publications such as ''Trossos'', ''La Cònsola'' (1919–1920) or ''La Publicitat'' (1923–1936), where he worked as an art director. At the end of the

, Foix returned to the family business, and his artistic presence receded for some time. During this time he compiled his entire poetic opus, and he also acted as a mentor for young artists close to the avant-garde scene, such as Joan Brossa. On 25 May 1962, he became a member of the ''Institut d'Estudis Catalans''. His popularity continued to grow, thanks to

Joan Manuel Serrat Joan Manuel Serrat Teresa (; born 27 December 1943) is a Spanish musician, singer, and composer. He is considered one of the most important figures of modern, popular music in both Spanish and Catalan languages. Serrat's lyrical style has b ...

and his song ''És quan dormo que hi veig clar'', which was adapted from one of Foix's poems. He received many different awards during his life, among them are the Gold Medal of the Generalitat of Catalonia (''Medalla d'Or de la Generalitat de Catalunya'', 1981) and the Catalan Literary Lifetime Achievement Award (''Premi d'Honor de les Lletres catalanes'', 1984). In 1984, the

Parliament of Catalonia The Parliament of Catalonia (, ; ; ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia. The Parliament is currently made up of 135 members, known as Deputy (legislator), deput ...

proposed that he should be considered for the

Nobel Prize in Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...

. J. V. Foix helped in 1985 to reestablish the students' association ''Federació Nacional d'Estudiants de Catalunya'' (FNEC). He was named its Honorary President. He died in 1987 and was buried in Sarrià. His personal library is located at the

Biblioteca de Catalunya The Library of Catalonia (, ) is the Catalan national library, located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The primary mission of the Library of Catalonia is to collect, preserve, and spread Catalan bibliographic production and that related to the ...

References

Bibliography

*''J.V. Foix'' 2002, Jaume Vallcorba, Ediciones Omega

External links

J.V. Foix in LletrA, Catalan Literature Online (Open University of Catalonia)

J.V. Foix's Persona library at Biblioteca de Catalunya
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foix, Josep Vicenc Catalan-language poets Catalan-language writers Premi d'Honor de les Lletres Catalanes winners 1987 deaths 1893 births 20th-century Spanish poets 20th-century male writers Members of the Institute for Catalan Studies