Prof. Jorge G. Arocha, University of Havana. Cuba Cruise.2015-2016

Visual Arts in Cuba

DEFINITION

¿Visual Arts?

PaintingSculpture ArchitecturePhotography

Arts that are perceived by sight

THESIS

Society

Artist • … to express certain themes and subjects.

• … to enrich the society

THEMES

• Portraits and Figures

• The Landscape and the city

• Still-Life and Flowers

• Historical Themes

• Allegory, Symbol, Imagination, and Abstraction

• Afro-Cuban culture

BEGINNING

Military Architecture

Religious ArchitectureDomestic Architecture

• José Nicolás de la Escalera, Vicente Escobar, Juan Bautista Vermay, Guillermo Collazo, Esteban Chartrand and Víctor Patricio Landaluce.

COLONIAL PERIOD • Development of the religious painting in the 17th and

18th Centuries.• The landscape in the middle of the 19th Century.

• In the year 1818, the foundation of the National Academy of Fine Arts “San Alejandro”, under the direction of Joan Baptiste Vermay (French and pupil of David), the most important representative of the Neoclassical School.

• Influenced by European canon: baroque and romanticism.

Museum Castle of The Royal Forces (1558-1576)

Museum Castle of The Royal Forces (1558-1576)• Considered the most important example of

Renaissance architecture in Cuba.

• Was a paradigm for the building of other fortifications in the American continent between the 16th and 18th centuries.

• The fortress has among its attributes the Giraldilla, a sculpture cast in bronze by Havana artist Jerónimo Martínez Pinzón and placed as weather van on top of the north-west tower.

Religious Architecture

Cathedral of Havana (1767-1796)

• In 1773 the Greater Parochial Church was moved here and in 1789 the temple with its Baroque facade was given the status of Cathedral.

• Bishop Juan J. Díaz de Espada modified the interior in the Neoclassical style.

Balcony on the corners

Domestic Architecture

Stained-glass windows and Roman arch

The mezzanine

Porch and Arcade

Courtyards

Portraits and Figures

• Is the most frequent theme in the history of our painting.

• Until 1925 the only individuals portrayed were rich and government officials.

• In 1925, with the emergence of the first generation of modern Cuban painters, portraiture radically altered its function. The models for these new artists were friends, other artists, and writers.

• In the 60’s there was a new relevant function. Besides the portraits of unidentified persons who symbolize the people, the images of heroes forcefully emerged. The artists recreated the faces of Fidel Castro, Ernest Che Guevara, and other heroes side by side with the people.

Juan Bautista VermayRetrato de hombre

Guillermo CollazoLa siesta

Leopoldo RomañachLa niña de las cañas

Víctor ManuelGitana tropical

JORGE ARCHEPrimavera o descanso

Alberto KordaErnesto Che Guevara

Raúl Martínez 15 repeticiones de

Martí

Raul MartínezTe doy una canción

Flavio Garciandía

Todo lo que usted necesita es amor

The Landscape and the city

• In Colonial landscape human figures, always played accessory roles.

• Influenced by Romanticism

• The idealization of the landscape incorporated the sugar mill, the living quarter, the servants, and the slaves.

• After 1925 the presence of human figures dominated the scene. The color and light were better suited to depict tropical climates than the romantic one.

• Small interest most Cuban painters have shown for marine landscape.

Henry CleenewerckRincón del valle al atardecer

Federico Fernández CavadaRío San Juan, Trinidad

Esteban ChartrandPaisaje marino

Esteban ChartrandPaisaje

Víctor Manuel García Paisaje con río

René Portocarrero Habana en rojo

Luís Martínez PedroSerie Aguas territoriales

Sandra RamosS/T

Carlos Garaicoa Acerca de esos incansables proyectos

Still-Life and Flowers

Amelia PeláezNaturaleza muerta

Amelia PeláezNaturaleza muerta azul

Historical Themes

• Besides biblical subjects the Academy paid special attention to historical themes.

• The version depicted was the Spanish government’s, never the one held by those who advocated independence.

• During the 1920’s and 1930’s, some allusion to social realities emerged through the representation of events resulting from a historical situation of oppression painters had the conscience to denounce.

• With the revolutionary triumph, the contemporary character of the historical theme, to which painters felt connected, emerged.

José Nicolás de la EscaleraLa Santísima Trinidad

Armando García MenocalEmbarque de Colón por Bobadilla

Carlos EnríquezCampesinos felices

Marcelo PogolottiPaisaje cubano

Servando Cabrera y Moreno Milicias campesinas

Allegory, Symbol, Imagination, and Abstraction

• Some contemporary painters introduced in their works symbols of our mestizo condition, emphasizing our African heritage. The most outstanding instance is Wilfredo Lam.

Fidelio Ponce de LeónNiños

Carlos EnríquezEl rapto de las mulatas

WILFREDO LAMEl tercer mundo

WILFREDO LAMHuracán

Umberto PeñaEl puf de los caballeros

Umberto Peña Tu haces brrrr con mi electricidad

Antonia EirizEl dueño de los

caballitos

Antonia EirizLa Anunciación

Contemporary Cuban Art

CIRENAICA MOREIRA

Alexis Leyva (Kcho)

Abel Barroso

Lázaro Saavedra

René Francisco

Prof. Jorge G. Arocha, University of Havana. Cuba Cruise.2015-2016

Visual Arts in Cuba

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