Stridentism (Spanish: Estridentismo) was an artistic and multidisciplinary

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 ...

movement, founded in

Puebla City Puebla de Zaragoza (; ; ), formally Heroica Puebla de Zaragoza, formerly Puebla de los Ángeles during colonial times, or known simply as Puebla, is the seat of Puebla Municipality. It is the capital and largest city of the state of Puebla, and t ...

Manuel Maples Arce Manuel Maples Arce (May 1, 1900 - June 26, 1981) was a Mexican poet, writer, art critic, lawyer and diplomat, especially known as the founder of the Stridentism movement. The leader of the first Mexican avant-garde movement After the first Stri ...

at the end of 1921 but formally developed in

Xalapa Xalapa or Jalapa (, ), officially Xalapa-Enríquez (), is the capital city of the Mexico, Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In 2020 census the city reported a population of 443,063 ...

where all the founders moved after the University of Veracruz granted its support for the movement. Stridentism shares some characteristics with

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

Dadaism Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

Futurism Futurism ( ) was an Art movement, artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such as the ...

and Ultraism, but it developed a specific social dimension, taken from the

Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution () was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw the destruction of the Federal Army, its ...

, and a concern for action and its own present. Stridentists were part of the political avant-garde, in contrast to the "elitist" modernism of

Los Contemporáneos ''Los Contemporáneos'' (which means "The Contemporaries" in English) can refer to a Mexican modernist group, active in the late 1920s and early 1930s, as well as to the literary magazine which served as the group's mouthpiece and artistic vehi ...

Chronology

1921: Mexico City, December 31, Manuel Maples Arce gives the first

manifesto A manifesto is a written declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party, or government. A manifesto can accept a previously published opinion or public consensus, but many prominent ...

out. 1923: Maples Arce and List Arzubide give out the second manifesto, in the city of

Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...

. 1923: Irradiador: short-lived journal (September, October, and November of 1923) 1924: First Stridentist Expo, at the "Café de nadie", in Mexico City. 1925: The group moves from Mexico City to

(recreated in their works as "Estridentópolis"). Third manifesto in the city of

Zacatecas Zacatecas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Zacatecas, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 31 states of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Zacatecas, 58 municipalities and its capital city is Zacatecas City, Zacatec ...

. 1926: Fourth and last manifesto in

Ciudad Victoria Ciudad Victoria () (English: ''Victoria City'') is the seat of the Victoria Municipality, Tamaulipas, Municipality of Victoria, and the capital of the Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Tamaulipas. It is located in the Northern Mexico, n ...

. 1927: The group separates, for political reasons. 1929-1930: A group of stridentists met in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and participated in the group '' Cercle Et Carre''. 1930:

Leopoldo Méndez Leopoldo Méndez (June 30, 1902 – February 8, 1969) was one of Mexico's most important graphic artists and one of that country's most important artists from the 20th century. Méndez's work mostly focused on engraving for illustrations and othe ...

and German List Arzubide traveled to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. 1932: Germán Cueto and Arqueles Vela returned to

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

from Paris

Artists

Poets:

Germán List Arzubide Germán List Arzubide (31 May 1898 – 17 October or 19 October 1998) was a Mexican poet and revolutionary. Born in Puebla, Puebla, Puebla, he was an active participant in the Revolution, fighting alongside Emiliano Zapata as well as extolling hi ...

, Salvador Gallardo. Writers/Journalists: Arqueles Vela, Carlos Noriega Hope. Visual artists:

Ramón Alva de la Canal Ramón Alva de la Canal (August 29, 1892 – April 4, 1985) was a Mexican painter, illustrator, and educator, one of the pioneers of the Mexican muralism movement. He was born Ramón Pascual Loreto José Alva de la Canal on August 29, 1892, in ...

Fermín Revueltas Fermín or Fermin may refer to: * Fermin, Spanish saint * Fermin (name), Spanish name and surname * Fermin IV, Mexican rapper and pastor See also

* San Fermín (disambiguation), San Fermín {{disambiguation ...

, Lola Cueto. Multidisciplinary artists: Germán Cueto,

Luis Quintanilla Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

Jean Charlot Louis Henri Jean Charlot (February 8, 1898 – March 20, 1979) was a French-born American painter and illustrator, active mainly in Mexico and the United States. Life Charlot was born in Paris. His father, Henri, owned an import-export business ...

, Gaston Dinner. Musicians:

Silvestre Revueltas Silvestre Revueltas Sánchez (December 31, 1899 – October 5, 1940) was a Mexican classical music composer, a violinist, and conductor. Life Revueltas was born in Santiago Papasquiaro in Durango, and studied at the National Conservatory of Mu ...

, Ángel Salas. Photographers:

Edward Weston Edward Henry Weston (March 24, 1886 – January 1, 1958) was an American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers" and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." Over the course ...

Tina Modotti Tina Modotti (born Assunta Adelaide Luigia Modotti Mondini, August 16/17, 1896 – January 5, 1942) was an Italian American photographer, model, actor, and revolutionary political activist for the Comintern. She left her native Italy in 1913 a ...

Bibliography

*Schneider, Luis Mario. ''El estridentismo o una literatura de la estrategia'', México: Conaculta, 1997. *Escalante, Evodio. ''Elevación y caída del estridentismo'', México: Conaculta, 2002. *Hadatty Mora, Yanna. ''La ciudad paroxista. Prosa mexicana de vanguardia (1921–1932)'', México: UNAM, 2009. *Rashkin, Elissa J. ''The Stridentist Movement in Mexico: The Avant-garde and Cultural Change in the 1920s'', Lanham, Maryland, USA: Lexington Books/Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2009. *Flores, Tatiana. ''Mexico’s Revolutionary Avant-Gardes: From Estridentismo to ¡30-30!'', New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013. *Klych, Linda. ''The Noisemakers: Estridentismo, Vanguardism, and Social Action in Postrevolutionary Mexico'', Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2018. {{Authority control Mexican literary movements Poetry movements Modernism 20th-century literature 20th-century poetry