Helios Gómez

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Wikidata image Helios Gómez Rodríguez (1905–1956) was an Andalusian painter, anarchist communist activist and writer. Born into a working class Calé family, he worked as a painter for the Spanish anarchist movement from an early age. His involvement in the movement forced him to flee Spain, and during his time in Europe he developed his artistic influences and was alerted to the rise of fascism. Upon his return to Spain, he joined the Communist Party of Spain (PCE), seeing it as the force that was best organised to resist fascism. By the end of the Spanish Civil War, he returned to anarchism, but was forced to flee following the victory of the Nationalists. From the 1940s, when he was imprisoned by the Francoist dictatorship, he began focusing on his writing and presenting Romani themes through his creative work. His poetry was collected and published posthumously in 2006.

Biography

Helios Gómez was born in 1905,Template:Sfnm in Triana, a predominantly Calé working class neighbourhood of Seville.Template:Sfnm From a young age, he worked as a painter and became involved in the Spanish anarchist movement.Template:Sfn His occupation as an artist allowed him to be accepted by wider Spanish society, which considered Romani identity to be acceptable only through artistic expression, although anti-Romani sentiment would continue to be expressed towards him in press reports.Template:Sfn

He published his first illustrations for the anarchist writer Felipe Alaiz and exhibited his early work at the radical art space Café Kursaal. Due to his activism, in 1927, he was forced to flee Spain. He then travelled throughout much of Western Europe, meeting members of avant-garde art movements and the labour movement. His time in Europe left an influence on his art style, which drew inspiration from cubism, expressionism and futurism. In 1930, he returned to Spain and settled in Barcelona, where he began working for the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) as a printmaker for its newspapers, posters and books.Template:Sfn

By this time, he had decided to renounce anarchism and join the Communist Party of Spain (PCE), as he felt the international communist movement was best organised to combat the threat of rising fascism.Template:Sfn He participated in communist rallies, which saw him imprisoned in Barcelona's Model prison, and fought in the ranks of the Communist Party of Spain during the Spanish Civil War.Template:Sfn Months after the outbreak of the war, he gave an interview with the left magazine Template:Ill.Template:Sfn Introduced by the paper as a "famous Gypsy illustrator and revolutionary artist",Template:Sfn he spoke about the anti-fascist cause as a means to overcome anti-Romani sentiment and praised the Soviet Union for its social integration of Romani people in Russia.Template:Sfn By 1938, he had rejoined the anarchist movement and oversaw the printing layout of the newspaper El frente. When the Nationalists launched their Catalonia Offensive, he fled the country and was subsequently interned in French concentration camps.Template:Sfn

After the war, when news began to emerge about the Romani Holocaust, he began to present himself more openly as a Romani person.Template:Sfn He especially began to assert his Romani identity after his imprisonment by the Francoist dictatorship, when he was forced to paint the chapel in Barcelona's Model prison.Template:Sfn Imprisoned from 1945 to 1946 and 1948 to 1954,Template:Sfn he began focusing most of his efforts on his literary work.Template:Sfnm During this period, he wrote: two essays,Template:Sfn including one on Romani art;Template:Sfn two historical fiction novels,Template:Sfnm Gabrielillo Vargas, gitano rojo and Historia de los gitanos;Template:Sfn an autobiographical epic poem titled Erika; and over 100 poems.Template:Sfn Romani themes were present throughout his written works of this period,Template:Sfnm with Spanish artist Template:Ill suggesting that he was motivated to assert his identity in a regime that suppressed the rights of Romani people.Template:Sfn

In 1956,Template:Sfnm Helios Gómez died in Barcelona.Template:Sfn

Legacy

Helios Gómez is best known for his work as a graphic artist, which he employed in service of the Spanish labour movement.Template:Sfnm According to Spanish historians Template:Ill and Template:Ill, Helios Gómez had an indisputably important role in the visual depiction of Spanish workers and anti-fascist themes during the 1930s.Template:Sfn

Relatively less attention has been paid to his literary work, which he took up from 1942 onwards. His poetry was published posthumously in 2006, as part of the collection Poemas de lucha y sueño.Template:Sfn Less has also been written about his political activism.Template:Sfn Gómez, along with Mariano R. Vázquez, was cited by Sierra and Profundo as a notable example of Romani participation in the Spanish anarchist movement.Template:Sfn Profundo himself said that Gómez's lasting legacies were in his artistic creations and his commitment to social process, as well as how his Romani identity affected each of them.Template:Sfn

Through the Associació Cultural Helios Gómez, his son Gabriel Gómez has recovered and promoted his works.Template:Sfn

External links

• Associació Cultural Helios Gómez