multibeautiful

The last laureate of this week, Chilean poet, diplomat and feminist, Gabriela Mistral, was the first Latin American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1945. Born into poverty, she won recognition for her published poetry while working as a teacher’s aide. As she gained stature, her position in the Chilean education system became more influential and she was able to champion reforms to expand access to those not from the privileged classes. She traveled widely and guarded her personal life closely. She died of pancreatic cancer in 1957.

Decalogue of the Artist

I. You shall love beauty, which is the shadow of God
over the Universe.

II.There is no godless art. Although you love not the
Creator, you shall bear witness to Him creating His likeness.

III.You shall create beauty not to excite the senses
but to give sustenance to the soul.

IV. You shall never use beauty as a pretext for luxury
and vanity but as a spiritual devotion.

V. You shall not seek beauty at carnival or fair
or offer your work there, for beauty is virginal
and is not to be found at carnival or fair.

VI. Beauty shall rise from your heart in song,
and you shall be the first to be purified.

VII.The beauty you create shall be known
as compassion and shall console the hearts of men.

VIII.You shall bring forth your work as a mother
brings forth her child: out of the blood of your heart.

IX. Beauty shall not be an opiate that puts you
to sleep but a strong wine that fires you to action,
for if you fail to be a true man or a true woman,
you will fail to be an artist.

X. Each act of creation shall leave you humble,
for it is never as great as your dream and always
inferior to that most marvelous dream of God
which is Nature.

And in breaking news, what a wonderful way to round off the week: The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to three women of colour. The winners are Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakul Karman of Yemen for 'their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work'. Live text-based coverage from the Guardian can be viewed here.