Arderiu, Clementina, 1889-1976
(Updated 08/10/2024)
Clementina Arderiu i Voltas (Barcelona, 1889-1976). Poet. She studied languages, music and piano and learned the silversmith trade of her family. In 1911, she published her first poem in the magazine, Puigmal, in Ripoll and, shortly after, she was included in two anthologies of Catalan poets. In 1916, she married Carles Riba and published her first book of poems, Cançons i elegíes.
In 1920, her second collection of poems appeared, L'alta llibertat, and in 1936, Poemes, a collection of two previous works and Cant i paraules were published. During the twenties, Arderiu and Riba travelled to Germany, France, Greece and Italy for Riba to complete his studies. In 1939, the couple headed to France, to an exile from which they would not return until 1943. From that time onwards, they played an active role in cultural resistance to the regime.
In 1946, she published Sempre i ara , which in 1938 won the Premi Joaquim Folguera. Six years later, Poesies completes was published with a foreword by Salvador Espriu. In 1959, the year Carles Riba died, she wrote És a dir (1959), a collection of poems with a foreword by Joan Fuster, for which she was awarded the Óssa Menor award (1958) and the Lletra d'Or (1960).
L’esperança, encara (1969), with a foreword by Joaquim Molas, was her last collection of poems. All of her previous work was published in 1973 in Obra poètica.
Her poetry, influenced mainly by Josep Carner, Jacint Verdaguer or Carles Riba himself, incorporated elements of both Noucentisme and avant-garde movements. She was one of the few poets to write joyful poems. Pain, anguish, sadness but also love, faith and joy were some of the motifs present in her poems.
The Arxiu Nacional de Catalunya (National Archive of Catalonia) holds many of Carles Riba and Clementina Arderiu's documents.
The Biblioteca de Catalunya holds the Riba - Arderiu library, granted by the Institut d'Estudis Catalans (Institute of Catalan Studies), made up of around 2000 volumes and some 250 more donated by the family. There is also a collection of manuscripts comprising notes interspersed among the books and other documents from various sources.
