Diaz, José Hernández

Date Born:   1906

Place Born:  Seville, Spain

Date died:   October 14, 1998

Place died:   Seville, Spain

Director of Laboratorio de Arte at the University of Seville; historian of Spanish, Spanish-American and Andalousian art. Díaz was born in Seville, where he attended the Instituto general y tecnico, and then the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters. He moved to Madrid for his PhD where he earned his doctoral degree under the direction of Manuel Gómez Moreno. He started his teaching career with a temporary position at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters in Sevilla, and as a professor and director of the Instituto de enseñanzas medias Murillo in Madrid. He then held a permanent position at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, and, from 1950 until his retirement in 1976, chaired the Art History and Spanish Art History department. He was appointed vice-rector in 1951, and four years later became rector of the Sevilla University, position he held until 1963. He was also the President of the Initiative Board of the University. In 1940 he founded in Sevilla the School of Arts Saint Isabel of Hungary, where he was a professor and director until 1976. Along with these teaching jobs, he was a member of the Royal Academy of Arts Saint Isabel of Hungary, institution he also presided between 1951 and 1992. He was associated with a number of Spanish universities, among which the Royal Academy of Letters in Sevilla, the Academy of Arts San Fernando in Madrid, the Academy of Arts San Jorge in Barcelona, the Academy of Arts San Carlos in Valencia. Between 1963 and 1966 he was the mayor of Sevilla, then the director of the university education department (1966-1968), attorney and president of the Education Committee in the Spanish Parliament. He was an active researcher until the time of his death.

José Hernández Díaz is the author of numerous monographies and articles on Andalousian art and the Sevillan imaginary. His professional correspondence and research work in the field of the Andalousian artistic patrimony and Sevillan art is preserved in archives. CS

Home Country:  Spain

Sources:  Bazin, Germain. Histoire de l'histoire de l'art: de Vasari à nos jours. Paris: Albin Michel, 1986, p. 441; Archivo General de Andalucía, electronic source (http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/cultura/aga/Cenfocoa/DetalleFondo.jsp?id=138).

Bibliography:  De arte sacro sevillano. Sevilla : Academia de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungría, 1976. Edificios religiosos y objetos de culto saqueados y destruídos por los marxistas en los pueblos de la provincia de Sevilla. (co-author, with Antonio Sancho Corbacho). Sevilla: Imp. de la Gavidia, 1937. Precisiones en torno al arte sagrado. Madrid : Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1953. La Virgen de los Reyes, patrona de Sevilla y de la archidiócesis : estudio iconográfico. Sevilla : Guadalquivir, 1996.

Subject's name: José Hernández Diaz