José Moreno Villa (16 February 1887,

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

– 25 April 1955,

México Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

) was a Spanish poet and member of the

Generation of '27 The Generation of '27 () was an influential group of poets that arose in Spain, Spanish literary circles between 1923 and 1927, essentially out of a shared desire to experience and work with avant-garde forms of art and poetry. Their first form ...

. He was a man of many talents: narrator, essayist, literary critic, artist, painter, columnist, researcher, archivist, librarian and archaeologist. He also taught at universities in the United States and México.

Biography

Moreno Villa was born into a comfortable middle-class family in Málaga. His father, José Moreno Castañeda, was a conservative politician and his grandfather, Miguel Moreno Mazón, had been a conservative mayor of Málaga. After finishing high school when he was 17 years old, his parents sent him to

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

in Germany to read chemistry. He didn't complete his studies. He returned to Málaga in 1910 and decided to settle in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. There he became familiar with personalities such as Ortega y Gasset, Enrique de Mesa, Ramón Pérez de Ayala, Enrique Díez Canedo, Juan Ramón Jiménez and

Pío Baroja Pío Baroja y Nessi (28 December 1872 – 30 October 1956) was a Spanish writer, one of the key novelists of the Generation of '98. He was a member of an illustrious family. His brother Ricardo was a painter, writer and engraver, and his ne ...

, among others. He was employed by the Editorial Calleja from 1916 to 1921, on the recommendation of Juan Ramón Jiménez. He wrote for magazines such as ''España'', ''Revista de Occidente'' and '' El Sol''. He lived at the

Residencia de Estudiantes ESO Hotel at Cerro Paranal (or Residencia) is the accommodation for Paranal Observatory in Chile since 2002. It is mainly used for the ESO ( European Southern Observatory) scientists and engineers who work there on a roster system. It has been ...

in Madrid for nearly 20 years, during which he benefitted both intellectually and socially. With the emergence of the Spanish Republic, Moreno Villa was appointed Director of the Archives of the National Palace. In 1927, he published a series of essays titled ''Pruebas de Nueva York (Observations of New York)'', inspired by his stay in New York City with his then fiancée, Florence Louchheim, whom he had met in Madrid at the Residencia. Florence became the protagonist of a book of poetry that Moreno Villa would also publish upon his return from the United States, called ''Jacinta la pelirroja (Jacinta the Redhead)''. With the outbreak 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 ...

, he moved to

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

for a short time until he was exiled to the United States, where he was employed in various cultural and educational posts at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. Shortly afterwards he moved to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, where he married, had a son, and developed much of his work. In Málaga, the Municipal Public Library José Moreno Villa was erected in 1988 in his honor.

Works

Poetry

*''Garba'' (1913) *''El pasajero'' (1914) *''Luchas de Pena y Alegría y su transfiguración'' (1915) *''Evoluciones. Cuentos, Caprichos, Bestiario, Epitafios y Obras paralelas'' (1918) *''Colección. Poesías'' (1924) *''Jacinta la Pelirroja. Poema en poemas y dibujos'' (1929). Ed. by Humberto Huergo Cardoso. Barcelona: Anthropos, 2021. *''Carambas'' (1931) *''Puentes que no acaban. Poemas'' (1933) *''Salón sin muros'' (1936) *''Puerta severa'' (1941) *''La noche del Verbo'' (1942) *''Voz en vuelo a su cuna (Avance de ese libro inédito)'' Ed. Ángel Caffarena Such (1961) *''Voz en vuelo a su cuna'' prologue León Felipe, epilogue Juan Rejano (1961) *''Poesías completas'' Ed. Juan Pérez de Ayala (1998) *''La música que llevaba. Antología poética'' Ed. Juan Cano Ballesta (2010)

Other works

*''Velázquez'' (1920) *''Patrañas'' (1921) *''Dibujos del Instituto Jovellanos'' (1926) *''Pruebas de Nueva York'' (1927) *''Locos, enanos, negros y niños palaciegos'' (1939) *''Cornucopia de México'' (1940) *''Doce manos mexicanas, datos para la historia literaria'' (1941) *''La escultura colonial mexicana'' (1941) *''Vida en claro, Autobiografía'' (1944) *''Leyendo a San Juan de la Cruz, Garcilaso, Fr. Luis de León, Bécquer, etc'' (1944) *''Probetería y locura'' (1945) *''Lo que sabía mi loro'' (1945) *''Lo mexicano en las artes plásticas'' (1948) *''Los autores como actores'' (1951) *''Análisis de los poemas de Picasso'' (1996) *''José Moreno Villa escribe artículos (1906-1937)''. Ed. Carolina Galán Caballero (1999) *''Temas de arte. Selección de escritos periodísticos sobre pintura, escultura, arquitectura y música (1916-1954)''. Ed. by Humberto Huergo Cardoso. Valencia: Pre-Textos, 2001. *''Ideografías de José Moreno Villa'' (2007) *''Medio mundo y otro medio. Memorias escogidas''. Ed. by Humberto Huergo Cardoso. Valencia: Pre-Textos, 2010. *''Función contra forma y otros escritos sobre arquitectura madrileña 1927-1935''. Ed. by Humberto Huergo Cardodo. Valencia: Iseebooks, 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moreno Villa, Jose 1887 births 1955 deaths Writers from Málaga Spanish essayists Literary critics of Spanish Spanish academics Mexican architectural historians Princeton University faculty Generation of '27 Spanish male poets 20th-century Spanish poets 20th-century Spanish translators Spanish male essayists 20th-century Spanish essayists 20th-century Spanish male writers