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Celebrating José Martí’s Poetry on His Birthday
Commemorating the 169th birth anniversary of José Martí
01/24/22
By: M. M.
José Martí was a revolutionary and a renowned poet. To celebrate his 169th birthday on January 28, we are highlighting the Martí poems featured in a notable 1978 collection.
Portfolio: 20 Years of Exile, 1959-1979, José Martí - Eighteen Poems, Augustín Fernández - Six Lithographs features some of Martí’s most important poems with accompanying illustrations by Cuban artist Augustín Fernández. Both Martí, known widely as Cuba’s national hero, and Fernandez lived in exile.
The Portfolio was first shown at the “Twentieth Year of the Cuban Diaspora” exhibition, in the Metropolitan Museum and Art Centers, Virginia Gardens, Florida. The Miami-Dade Public Library System acquired the 75th edition of the 500 copies printed by George C. Miller and Son, N.Y., which is now available through the Digital Collections.
View Portfolio’s 18 poems and illustrations below and click here to access larger images.
Poems included in the Portfolio:
Versos Sencillos: I, V, IX, X, XXIII, XXV, XXXIX, XLI, XLIV, XLV
Yugo y Estrella
Al Extranjero
Dos Patrias
Domingo Triste
Los Zapaticos de Rosa
No Música Tenaz Me Hables del Cielo
Los Dos Príncipes
Mi Reyecillo
Biographical information
José Julián Martí Pérez was born in Havana on January 28, 1853, to Spanish immigrants. He showed a talent for writing and politics at an early age. At the age of 16, Martí advocated for Cuba’s freedom from Spain’s control in his first newspaper, La Patria Libre (Free Fatherland), published in 1869. As a result, he was arrested and sentenced to six years of hard labor. He was freed after a few months and soon traveled to Spain, where he published El Presidio Político en Cuba, a rousing attack on Cuban prisons. He received his university education in Madrid and Zaragoza. From 1881 until the early 1890s, Martí spent much of his time in New York, reporting on the American experience for various Spanish-language publications, wrote a magazine for children called Edad de Oro (Golden Age), along with poetry and essays. He was impressed by America’s industry and statemen, most notably the framers of the U.S. Constitution, however, he was critical of its imperialism.In 1892, he founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party and returned to the island three years later, where he died in a skirmish.
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Agustín Fernández was born in Havana, Cuba on April 16, 1928, and died in New York City on June 2, 2006. During his time in exile, he focused his time on the production of paintings, drawings, and graphics, as wells as assemblages, sculptures, and artist’s books. His career featured both solo shows and more than 100 group shows including at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and The Art Institute of Chicago. His work is characterized by ambiguous forms and a metallic palette. Agustín Fernández is, along with Rafael Soriano, a member of the “older generation” who are now considered the “masters” of the Cuban artists from the diaspora.
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