Carlos Cortez remembered.Poet, artist, and peace activist Carlos Cortez died at his Chicago home earlier this year. Best known for his linoleum-cut and wood-cut graphics, he captured the dignity of oppressed op·press tr.v. op·pressed, op·press·ing, op·press·es 1. To keep down by severe and unjust use of force or authority: a people who were oppressed by tyranny. 2. people. The Smithsonian Institution and the Museum of Modern Art in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of display his art, as do community centers. Born and raised in Milwaukee, Cortez was imprisoned im·pris·on tr.v. im·pris·oned, im·pris·on·ing, im·pris·ons To put in or as if in prison; confine. [Middle English emprisonen, from Old French emprisoner : en- for eighteen months as a conscientious objector during World War II. In 1947, he joined the Industrial Workers of the World Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), revolutionary industrial union organized in Chicago in 1905 by delegates from the Western Federation of Mines, which formed the nucleus of the IWW, and 42 other labor organizations. and later became a columnist and editor of its paper, The Industrial Worker. During the 1970s, he was part of Chicago's Chicano muralist movement, and in 1975, he helped found Movimiento Artistico Chicano (MARCH). He did not survive on his art; he worked in factories. In addition to his graphic artistry, Cortez wrote three books of poetry and was board president of Charles H. Kerr publishers for twenty years. According to the Chicago Tribune, Cortez "bequeathed more than 100 wood and linoleum linoleum (lĭnō`lēəm), resilient floor or wall covering made of burlap, canvas, or felt, surfaced with a composition of wood flour, oxidized linseed oil, gums or other ingredients, and coloring matter. blocks used to produce his prints to Chicago's Mexican Fine Arts museum, stipulating that if the price of his art went up, the blocks should be used to produce more and drive it down." For more information, go to www.rebelgraphics.org/carloscortez.html. |
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