Mariano Picón Salas

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Mariano Picón Salas

Born	January 26, 1901 Mérida, Mérida State, Venezuela
Died	January 1, 1965 Caracas, Venezuela

Mariano Picón Salas, an influential Venezuelan diplomatic, cultural critic and writer of the 20th century, was born in Mérida (Mérida State) on January 26, 1901 and died in Caracas on January 1, 1965. Among his books, his collection of essays on history, literary criticism and cultural history are remarkable. He travelled a lot through the Americas. His work is also important because of his wide perspective, studying the culture of the entire continent. He left Venezuela, under the political persecution of dictator Gómez. Living for a large period in Chile, he studied History gaining the degree of “Profesor de Historia” and later the Doctorate on Philosophy and Letters.

He came back to Venezuela in 1936, working as a professor and author. He founded the Asociación de Escritores de Venezuela (Writers Association from Venezuela), and worked for the Ministry of Education.

His studies on "Barroco de Indias" (the term that he coined to talk about the baroque from Hispanic America) are very influential among the general study of Baroque.

He received the Premio Nacional de Literatura (National Literary Award) in 1954. He taught at Columbia University, New York.

He was twice married. First to Isabel Cento, with whom he had a daughter named Delia Isabel Picón de Morles Hernández, and to socialite Beatriz Otáñez.

[edit] Works

Las nuevas corrientes de arte (1917)
Formación y proceso de la literatura venezolana (1940)
Viaje al amanecer (1943)
De la Conquista a la Independencia (México, 1944)
Biografía de Francisco de Miranda (1946)
Formación y Proceso de la Literatura Venezolana (1947)
Comprensión de Venezuela (1949)
Pedro Clavel, el Santo de los Esclavos (1950)
Dependencia e Independencia en la Historia hispanoamericana (1952)
Crisis, cambio, tradición (1955)
Los Malos salvajes. Civilización y política contemporáneas (1962)
Hora y Deshora. Temas humanísticos; nombres y figuras, viajes y lugares (1963)
Prólogo al Instituto Nacional de Cultural (posthumous) (1965)