Huerta, Francisco
This exhibit curates seven drawings by Francisco Huerta (un-1943), published in New York periodicals Frente Popular in 1938, and a reprint from Bombas de Mano, published in the periodical España Libre (1939-1977 Free Spain) in 1943. His drawings depict images of the war. Huerta repeatedly paints dark eyes to portray suffering people.
Huerta illustrated Lirón's Bombas de Mano (Hand grenades), a collection of satirical poems that mocked fascists and antifascists, also published by the Sociedades Hispanas Confederadas (SHC) in 1938. Huerta helped Juan Eugenio Domingo Mingorance paint two murals for the Ateneo Hispano de Nueva York headquarters. One of them, “Éxodo,” depicts refugees walking toward France.
Huerta was an actor and stage designer in the SHC antifascist plays. He participated in these two plays:
- In Sept. 1936, Ignacio Zugadi Garmendia’s ¡Milicianos al Frente! (Militiamen to the Front!). The play is situated in the mountains of Guadarrama. A militiaman gives reasons for defending the Republic. In his house in a working-class neighborhood of Madrid, Atilano thinks the people should dismantle the state instead. Leocadia takes a rifle and goes to fight against Fascism.
- In Oct. 1943, Ignacio Zugadi Garmendia's Hombres y Mujeres (Men and Women) was a 3-act comedy about politicians in an imaginary country. The play shows their ambitions and contradictions.
Huerta was a member of the Ateneo Hispano de Nueva York. He lived in a rented room in Columbia Heights, in Brooklyn.
When he died on March 24, 1944, the Ateneo began a collection to cover his funeral expenses. His friend, Sebastian Palmer, wrote Huerta's obituary in España Libre. In it, Palmer remembered him as the actor and stage designer at Ateneo in the 1920s, and later at the SHC. Also, as a cartoonist and contributor to many worker periodicals.
Ian Jones responds to Huerta's art
How to cite the exhibit: "Francisco Huerta," in Montse Feu. "Fighting Fascist Spain --The Exhibits." Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage Digital Collections. http://usldhrecovery.uh.edu/exhibits/show/fighting-fascist-spain--the-ex. Accessed [DATE].
Announcement for the members of the Confederated Hispanic Societies (CHS) to donate iron for the Spanish Civil War shelters in the Republican zone. Iron will be sent to Spain in the campaign "American Relief Ship for Spain."
A woman is breastfeeding a baby. In the background, her town has been destroyed by the Spanish Civil War;Una mujer está amamantando a un bebé. Al fondo, su ciudad ha sido destruida por la guerra civil Española;
A big drawing of a militiaman in the background protects two young boys sitting at the front of the drawing. The caption says "The soldier's worries: the homeland and the family ... Let's help him."
A woman is breastfeeding a baby. In the background, her town has been destroyed by the Spanish Civil War.
A woman embraces a militiaman. Her eyes are closed.
A little girl has been killed by Stukas' bombs and her body lies next to a Spanish history book. The caption says, "Eternal Scenes from people who suffer.
A woman protects a little girl as the ghost of fascism goes toward them. Militiamen fight in trenches in the background.
Franco is holding a half-moon, which symbolizes his Moorish Guard. Instead of a horse, he is sitting on a pile of donkey manure. The drawing was first published in Bombas de mano (1938) to illustrate a satirical poem mocking Franco.