New York, – Authorities and experts met today at the University of New York to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Republican exile in Spain, which recalled the great influence of this diaspora on studies of Spanish culture in the New York institution.
“In places like Chile, Mexico, Cuba or Argentina, the contributions made by Spanish Republicans in exile to the eventual fall of fascism, and the culture and economy of their adopted countries are relatively well known,” the vice-dean for Academic Affairs said during the ceremony. from the University of New York, Georgina Dopico.
“Few people are aware, however, of the extraordinary legacy left by the Spanish Republicans exiled in the United States,” he said.
For his part, the consul of Spain in New York, Rafael Conde de Saro, explained that “many of the people who left were the personification of culture, science and the arts, something that Spain lost but that benefited the countries who generously welcomed them. “
Count de Saro pointed out that, being the Big Apple the largest port of entry to the US, many Republican exiles arrived in the city, and although a good number emigrated to other places, many others stayed and were welcomed by the University of New York, institution to which he expressed the “gratitude and recognition of the Spanish Government”.
Specifically, the Spanish writer María Dueñas, the New York University Hispanicist James Fernández, the Spanish Consul for Cultural Affairs in New York, Juan José Herrera de la Muela, and the professors of the New York institution Alexander Nagel participated in the event. and Edward Sullivan, as well as the researcher Marisol Téllez Urech.
Dueñas spoke of the first novel he published, “Misión Olvido” (2012), which he told that he was inspired by one of his central characters in Ramón J. Sender, one of the most prominent Spanish writers of the 1930s and who lived exiled in the USA since before the Spanish Civil War broke out (1936-1939).
The role played in the development of knowledge of Spanish culture by Carmen Aldecoa, who became a great figure in the Spanish department at the University of New York and was one of the editors of the speech newspaper, was also highlighted at the event. Hispanic “Free Spain”.
“She was a Spanish lady of personal and intellectual greatness,” said Edward Sullivan, an expert in American and Spanish art at New York University.
Likewise, Sullivan spoke of the enormous influence in the center of the art expert José López Rey, who gave numerous courses on the life and works of Spanish painters such as Goya and Velázquez, and who published the book “Velázquez Work and World” in 1969.
It also commemorated the influence of the Spanish painter Esteban Vicente, who was said to be an important part of the art world of New York and its current of abstract expressionism, and who came to share study with the renowned Willem de Kooning.
Specifically, two works by Vicente, who was a professor at the University of New York from 1960 to 1971, who are currently part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, “Number Four”, were highlighted. (1956), and one of his collages. (EFEUSA).
