José Camón Aznar (5 October 1898 - 15 May 1979) was a Spanish professor, art historian, writer and thinker.

Life

He was born in

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

and graduated in law from its university, though this as at his father's insistence and he never practised law. He then gained a doctorate in letters and philosophy and in 1924 (aged only 26) was appointed to the chair in literary theory and arts at the

University of Salamanca The University of Salamanca () is a public university, public research university in Salamanca, Spain. Founded in 1218 by Alfonso IX of León, King Alfonso IX, it is the oldest university in the Hispanic world and the fourth oldest in the ...

. During his time in

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

he became closely linked with the

Radical Republican Party The Radical Republican Party (), sometimes shortened to the Radical Party, was a Spanish Radical party in existence between 1908 and 1936. Beginning as a splinter from earlier Radical parties, it initially played a minor role in Spanish parlia ...

and with

Miguel de Unamuno Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (; ; 29 September 1864 – 31 December 1936) was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher, professor of Greek and Classics, and later rector at the University of Salamanca. His major philosophical ...

, thus losing his chair at the end of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. From 1939 he taught art history at the University of Zaragoza. In 1942 he succeeded in a competitive exam to be appointed to the chair of medieval art history at the Central University, of whose Faculty of Philosophy and Letters he became Dean and later Honorary Dean. He was a member of the royal academies of Fine Arts of San Fernando, of

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

and of Moral and Political Sciences. He was also an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Zaragoza and a corresponding member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Lisbon, the Royal Academy of San Carlos of Valencia, the Royal Academy of San Jorge of Barcelona and several academies in Spanish America. He was director of the Museo Lázaro Galdiano foundation, an advisor to the

Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas The Spanish National Research Council (, CSIC) is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe. Its main objective is to develop and promote research that will help bring about scientific and techn ...

, president of the Asociación Nacional de Críticos de Arte, a trustee of the

Prado Museum The Museo del Prado ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It houses collections of European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th century, based on ...

the National Archaeological Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Madrid and the

Alcázar of Segovia The Alcázar of Segovia is a medieval castle located in the city of Segovia, in Castile and León, Spain. It has existed since at least the 12th century, and is one of the most renowned medieval castles globally and one of the most visited land ...

, and "favoured son" of his birthplace. He edited the ''Revista de Ideas Estéticas'' of the

and founded ''Goya'', a journal of the Museo Lázaro Galdiano. He wrote widely, including ''Dios en San Pablo'', the novella '' El pastor Quijótiz'' and the tragedies ''Hitler'', ''Lutero'', ''Ariadna'', ''El Cid, personaje mozárabe'', ''El ser en el espíritu'' and ''Filosofía del arte''. In the fields of art and aesthetics he wrote "El arte desde su esencia", "El escultor Juan de Ancheta", "La arquitectura plateresca" (two volumes), "Domenico Greco", "Picasso y el cubismo", "La arquitectura y la orfebrería en el siglo XVI", "Pintura medieval en España", "Velázquez", "La pintura española en el siglo XVI", "Miguel Ángel", "La pintura española en el siglo XVII", "Juan de Echebarría", "Berruguete", and "Goya". He also wrote countless newspaper articles, exhibition catalogues, forewords to literary, philosophical and artistic works, commentaries and critiques of almost all major contemporary Spanish artists, and book reviews. His "Influencia de Goya en la pintura universal" won the National Literature Prize in 1946 and his "Picasso y el cubismo" won the National Literature Prize in 1956, whilst his "El Minotauro" won the first national play prize "Seneca" in 1972. He also won the Hispanic Institute for International Research prize. Throughout his life he collected artworks and books. He left his whole collection to the people of

Aragón Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to south): Huesca, Zaragoza, a ...

, thus creating Museo e Instituto de Humanidades Camón Aznar. He died in Madrid.

Bibliography (in Spanish)

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References

External links (in Spanish)

José Camón Aznar, in the Gran Enciclopedia Aragonesa OnLine

{{DEFAULTSORT:Camon Aznar, Jose category:People from Zaragoza 20th-century Spanish philosophers 20th-century Spanish historians category:Spanish art historians 20th-century Spanish writers Members of the Cortes Españolas category:University of Zaragoza alumni category:Academic staff of the University of Salamanca category:Academic staff of the Complutense University of Madrid Recipients of the Civil Order of Alfonso X, the Wise