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INVENTORY OF THE CÉSAR MORO PAPERS, ca. 1925-1987, (bulk ca. 1925-1956)
980029
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Title: César Moro papers
Date (inclusive): 1854-1997 (bulk 1925-1956)
Number: 980029
Creator/Collector:
Moro, César, d. 1956
Physical Description:
8.0 linear feet
(12 boxes, 1 flat file folder)
Repository:
The Getty Research Institute
Special Collections
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, California, 90049-1688
(310) 440-7390
Abstract: The papers of Peruvian Surrealist poet and artist César Moro include notebooks, drafts of poems, manuscripts of articles,
personal diaries, exhibition catalogs, photographs, and correspondence with a number of other artists of the era, including
André Coyné, Benjamin Péret, Paul Eluard, Leonora Carrington, Wolfgang Paalen, and Rufino Tamayo. Also included are two collages
by Moro, a watercolor by Alice Rahon [Paalen], an etching by Wolfgang Paalen, and several works by mentally ill patients at
the Hospital Larco Herrera, where Moro taught. The collection also includes books and journals from Moro's personal library.
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Language: Collection material is in Spanish and French.
César Moro was born Alfredo Quíspez Asín on August 19, 1903 in Lima, Peru. He changed his name in 1923 to that of a character
in a story by Gomez de la Serna. Two years later he joined his older brother in Paris, where he intended to become a ballet
dancer, but instead began writing poetry in French and painting, both activities influenced by the Surrealist movement. During
his time in Paris he participated in exhibitions and published poems in Surrealist publications. He also met and began long
friendships with other artists, including Benjamín Péret, Paul Éluard, and André Breton.
Moro returned to Lima in 1933, where he continued to write and paint, and established a museum and taught art classes for
the mentally ill at the Hospital Larco Herrera. He also began a long friendship and collaboration with Emilio Westphalen soon
after his return to Peru. In 1935 Moro organized the first Surrealist Exposition in South America but had to leave Peru in
1938 after he and Westphalen published and distributed a clandestine pamphlet in support of the Spanish Republic. He claimed
political asylum in Mexico, where he lived for the next ten years.
During his time in Mexico Moro wrote for various publications and co-organized the 1940 Exposición Internacional del Surrealismo
along with André Breton and Wolfgang Paalen, which gathered works by Pablo Picasso, Agustín Lazo, and Salvador Dalí, among
others. Moro also began new friendships with artists including Xavier Villaurrutia, Remedios Varo, and Leonora Carrington.
In 1942 Moro published
Lettre d'amour, a long poem in French. In 1943 he published his first book of poems,
Le Château de Grisou.
In 1944 Moro broke with the Surrealist movement, and Breton in particular, but he continued to maintain friendships with other
Surrealists living in the Americas. He also became close to Mexican artists in the Contemporaneo group, particularly Rufino
Tamayo and Xavier Villaurrutia. Moro returned to Lima in 1948, where he dedicated himself to teaching at the Alianza Francesa
and the Colegio Militar Leoncio Prado. He died in 1956.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
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César Moro papers, ca. 1925-1987 (bulk 1925-1956), The Getty Research Insititute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 980029.
Acquired 1998.
The archive was first processed and described in 1998. Jennifer Osorio reprocessed it and wrote a new finding aid in 2006
under the supervision of Jocelyn Gibbs. Andra Darlington revised the finding aid in 2009.
Scope and Content of Collection
The César Moro papers consist primarily of personal documents, manuscripts, and correspondence from 1925 to Moro's death in
1956. The dates of the collection encompass Moro's years in Paris from 1925 to 1933, his work in Lima in the 1930s, his ten
years of political asylum in Mexico from 1938 to 1948, and his final eight years back in Lima.
Moro's papers provide insight into the Surrealist and avant-garde movements in Europe and Latin America over three decades.
His correspondence with other Surrealist artists offers a glimpse into Moro's interpersonal relationships before, during and
after World War II; of particular interest is his rocky relationship and eventual break with André Breton and Surrealism.
Moro's published and unpublished manuscripts, personal library, and collected manuscripts and artwork by mentally ill patients
at the Hospital Larco Herrera illustrate his artistic and literary interests.
The correspondence, manuscripts, and printed matter are supplemented by several pieces of artwork, including two collages
by Moro that were exhibited in Europe, and by personal photographs of Moro, his friends and family.
Papers are organized in six series:
Series I. Official papers, 1943-1948;
Series II. Manuscripts and diaries, 1925-1959;
Series III. Artwork, undated;
Series IV. Correspondence, 1930-1955;
Series V. Photographs, 1925-1960;
Series VI. Printed matter, 1926-1987
Moro, César, d. 1956
Villaurrutia, Xavier, 1903-1950
Westphalen, Emilio Adolfo, 1911-
Art and mental illness
Art, Latin America--20th century
Art, Modern--20th century
Artists--Latin American
Art-Latin America-20th Century
Poetry
Poets--Political and social views
Surrealism
Surrealism (Literature)
Surrealism--France--Exhibitions
Surrealism--Latin America.
Surrealism--Mexico
Surrealism--Peru
Lettres D'Amour Los anteojos de azufre Trafalgar Square
Artists' books
Collages
Correspondence, personal
Diaries
Drawings (visual works)
Etchings
Exhibition catalogs
Manuscripts for publication
Official documents
Photographic prints
Photographs, Original
Printed ephemera
Watercolors
Breton, André, 1896-1966
Carrington, Leonora, 1917-
Coyné, André, 1927-
Eluard, Paul, 1895-1952
Paalen, Wolfgang, 1907-
Péret, Benjamin, 1899-1959
Rahon, Alice, 1916-
Tamayo, Rufino, 1899-1991
Villaurrutia, Xavier, 1903-1950
Westphalen, Emilio Adolfo, 1911-