Carlos Cortéz
Carlos Cortéz was a multifaceted artist, poet, pacifist, and labor union supporter, born on August 13, 1923, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His upbringing was steeped in an internationalist and egalitarian philosophy, heavily influenced by his parents' backgrounds; his father was a Mexican-Yaqui organizer for the International Workers of the World (IWW), while his mother, a German immigrant, was a union worker and pacifist. Cortéz did not pursue formal higher education but instead worked as a carpenter, taking art classes and cultivating his artistic talents during his time in federal prison for refusing military service during World War II.
After his release, he became active in the IWW, contributing poetry and visual art to their publications, and later joined the Moviemiento Artístico Chicano (MARCH) in the 1960s. He gained recognition as a "people's artist" for his woodblock and linoleum-cut graphics, and his poetry often addressed themes such as class struggle, environmental issues, and cultural identity. Cortéz published several collections of his works, which received acclaim for their wit and vividness, despite some critiques of his style. Dedicated to the belief that art should serve a purpose rather than be a means of making a living, Cortéz exhibited his art in prestigious museums while continuing to contribute to the literary and artistic community until his passing on January 23, 2005.
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Carlos Cortéz
Poet
- Born: August 13, 1923
- Birthplace: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Died: January 23, 2005
Biography
As an artist, poet, pacifist, and labor union supporter, Carlos Cortéz believed in the power of art to make life more just for the common worker everywhere. Born on August 13, 1923, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Cortéz absorbed his internationalist, egalitarian philosophy from birth. His father, half Mexican and half Yaqui, was an organizer for the International Workers of the World (IWW, also called Wobblies); his mother, a second-generation German, was also a union worker and a pacifist.
He attended public schools in Milwaukee but did not consider himself to have the academic bent needed for college. Instead, he became a carpenter, taking occasional art classes at a gallery. During World War II, true to his mother’s pacifist beliefs, he refused military service and as a consequence served eighteen months at a federal penitentiary, where he cultivated his interest in art and learned about other ethnic groups. Upon release, he joined the IWW and worked in a succession of blue- collar jobs.
During the 1950’s, he also began contributing movie reviews, cartoons, and, inspired by Beat Generation poets such as Kenneth Patchen, poetry to the IWW’s The Industrial Worker. In 1965, Cortéz moved to Chicano with his wife, Mariana, who was born in Greece. He joined the Moviemiento Artístico Chicano (MARCH) and developed a reputation as a people’s artist for his woodblock and linoleum-cut graphics. He also served as a board member for Charles Kerr Publishing, a socialist publisher.
Cortéz’s Wobbly poetry was popular and frequently reprinted from the early 1960’s onward. In Crystal-Gazing the Amber Fluid, and Other Wobbly Poems (1990), De Kansas a Califas and Back to Chicago: Poems and Art (1992), and Where Are the Voices? and Other Wobbly Poems (1997), he collected his earlier published poetry, together with new works, into volumes that he also illustrated. His poetic models ranged widely, according to critics, including Robert Burns, Robert Service, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Walt Whitman, blues songs, and the Mexican corrido (popular ballad).
In addition to the class war between workers and capitalists, his themes included the environment and Native American and Latino identity. Critics find that his composition is sometimes sloppy and his rhythms vagrant, but they praise his wit and vividness, especially in the short poems that he modeled on the Japanese haiku. He continued contributing poetry to magazines and anthologies, sometimes under his Nauhatl penname Koyokuitatl (Coyote Sound), until his death on January 23, 2005.
Cortéz told an interviewer that he wanted to make a life of art, not a living from art. Accordingly, he never supported himself with his writing or artworks, although he exhibited the woodcuts in leading museums, such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and Das André Amerika in Berlin. Crystal-Gazing the Amber Fluid and Other Wobbly Poems won the Kwanzaa Award.