First vestiges
Rock paintings regularly uncovered in the country's caves bear witness to Cuba's indigenous past. Archaeological sites also reveal ornate polished stones, ceramics, ritual objects, idols and figures carved from natural materials such as stone and wood. The Baracoa region is home to several of the island's major sites. Founded in 2003 on the El Paraíso hill, the Museo Arqueológico Paraíso invites visitors to familiarize themselves with the life of the Taïnos through some one hundred artifacts. The Société Archéologique de Baracoa, which fights fiercely to preserve the island's remains, has a rich exhibition room. Run by enthusiasts who lead guided tours, the site houses treasures inherited from the island's earliest inhabitants.
Emergence of a Cuban art
Various aesthetic trends were brought over the centuries by Spanish colonists and slaves brought from Africa. It took centuries of external contributions and cross-fertilization for authentic Cuban art to assert itself. Several Cuban personalities have made their mark and imposed their talent, opening Cuba up to international currents.
Cuba's first known painter, José Nicolás de Escalera, was born in Havana in 1734. A self-taught artist, he perfected his skills by copying mostly religious works. Some of his creations, notably La Santísima Trinidad, can be seen at the Museo nacional de Bellas Artes. He produced the murals for the church of Santa María del Rosario, built in 1760. In his Santo Domingo y la Noble Familia de Casa Bayona, a black slave appears for the first time in Cuban painting.
From the 16th century onwards, the Spanish conquest and evangelization of the territory changed the landscape. The Baroque style came to the fore. Until the 19th century, painting was essentially inspired by the Catholic world. With the founding of the San Alejandro Academy in 1818 by the French painter Vermay, a school that continues to train artists, new directions are taken. Until the 1880s, landscape artists dominated. Esteban Chartrand and Valentín Sanz Carta (1849-1898) are perfect examples of this genre. Juana Borrero (1877-1896), despite her premature death at the age of 19, was equally at home in poetry and painting. Some of her portraits are on display at the Museo nacional de Bellas Artes. On the whole, however, good-natured academicism held sway. The most popular themes were rural landscapes, religion, historical scenes and portraits.
Modern turnaround
A wave of painters trained in San Alejandro showed their willingness to shake up codes. Some traveled to Europe, particularly France, where they assimilated the avant-garde approaches underway. In 1927, an exhibition at La Revista de Avance put the spotlight on new talent. Sculptor Juan José Sicre (1898-1974), Eduardo Abela (1889-1965), Víctor Manuel, Antonio Gattorno (1904-1980) and Carlos Enríquez (1900-1957) are all names associated with Cuban modernism.
The first Salon d'Art Moderne in 1937 consolidated these advances. The artists drew on Surrealist, Fauvist and Cubist influences, while combining them with characteristic Afro-Cuban elements. By the 1940s, there was already talk of a Havana school. Key figures in this trend were Mariano Rodríguez (1912-1990), René Portocarrero (1912-1985), whose work depicted the beauty of his native country through figurative art, and Amelia Pélaez (1896-1968), who drew inspiration from Mexican artistic movements (Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo) through frescoes with a resolutely social tone.
Painter and ceramist Amelia Pélaez entered the San Alejandro Academy. Influenced by institutional classicism and her teacher, the Cuban painter Leopoldo Romañach (1862-1951), she exhibited for the first time in Havana in 1924, before spending time in New York and Europe. Returning to Cuba in 1934, Amelia Pélaez devoted the rest of her life to art, with a detour into mural painting and ceramics from the 1950s onwards.
A precocious artist, René Portocarrero (1912-1985) began painting at the age of 14. A student at the San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts, he soon became opposed to the prevailing canons and left the institution. His travels in Haiti, Europe and the United States opened up new perspectives. His work essentially revolves around mural art and ceramics. His works are exhibited in prestigious modern art museums around the world, and naturally in Havana.
Wilfredo Lam or the soul of Cuba
Wifredo Óscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla, known as Wifredo Lam, was born in Sagua La Grande (1902-1982). A Cuban painter of Afro-Chinese origin, Lam developed a unique style that quickly made his reputation. His crossbreeding approach brought him closer to the Martinican poet Aimé Césaire. In his paintings, he combines Western modernism with African and West Indian symbols to present a singular language. Lam spent many years in exile in France and Spain, where he met Picasso, Breton and the Surrealists, and later the CoBrA group.
Wilfredo Lam's return to Cuba marked one of the major turning points in Cuban painting. From then on, he drew heavily on the themes of santería. Alejo Carpentier, dazzled by his work, described it as a blend of "the chaos of American man and modern man in general". The Centro de Arte Contemporaneo Wilfredo Lam in Havana, a pivotal point on the cultural scene, pays homage to Lam, perpetuating his spirit of openness to the world. In addition to its permanent collection, the center welcomes international creation and now hosts the Havana Biennial.
Revolution and censorship
After the Cuban revolution in 1959, the government implemented a policy that favored culture and all its forms of expression. The Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas in Havana is a hotbed of talent. Art schools were set up throughout the country, and the ISA (Instituto Superior de Arte) was created in 1976. But the 1970s were marked by increased political control over the art world. Many artists went into exile. The leader of Cuban pop art, Raúl Martínez, remained on the island and turned the omnipresent revolutionary figures on their head. Other currents circumvented institutional constraints by investing themselves in primitive art, abstraction and the revival of Afro-Cuban folklore. These include Manuel Mendive and Flavio Garciandía. Half-figurative, half-surrealist, the works of the former enriched the best Cuban and foreign collections, and drew heavily on African cultural heritage.
In the 1980s, several alternative currents emerged. Puré and Artecalle are the most representative. Exhibiting their work in the street, these artists sought to avoid censorship. Under police repression, most of them emigrated abroad (Miami, Mexico, Madrid, Paris or London). Photographer Jose Manuel Fors, born in 1956, reintroduced the theme of nature into Cuban art, using motifs such as grass, trees and earth.
The 1990s saw the emergence of spectacle art, of which Carlos Garaicoa remains the most emblematic representative. Born in 1967, the creations of this artist and photographer reflect his view of social and political life. He started out in the midst of an economic depression, but multiplied his means of expression to make himself heard. This led to international recognition.
When the walls speak
The economic crisis and deprivation of the período especial reshaped local artistic creation. In Havana, Salvador González Escalona began a remarkable project along the Callejón de Hamel in 1992. His huge, flamboyant murals showcase the richness of Afro-Cuban culture and santería, and have become a center of artistic attraction. Today, the walls are no longer dedicated to propaganda, but censorship remains. The authorities place limits on urban art, and it's best to steer clear of political themes. But many street artists are not intimidated. A popular protester, El Sexto was imprisoned several times before going into exile in the United States after tagging "Se fue" (he's gone) the day after Fidel Castro's death. Fabian aka 2+2=5 makes his alter ego Supermalo, a hooded figure, speak on behalf of his compatriots. Among the most active, MYL scatters ultra-feminine characters or skulls across the capital. Conversely, Yulier P has given up mural frescoes to paint on tiles, which he scatters across the city. Despite heightened surveillance in the tourist districts, international artists are still leaving their works. These include works by Rone, Noé Two and JR, who have been here several times, notably for the 2019 Biennial.
Current scene
Since the early 2000s, Cuban visual arts have been diversifying both technically and thematically, although Cuban identity still predominates. Nancy Reyes paints on stained glass and is inspired by Afro-Cuban syncretism. Alfredo Fernandez Duany, for his part, uses graffiti to evoke situations experienced on a daily basis in Cuba.
Generally speaking, contemporary Cuban artists are characterized by their originality. Rolando Vasquez's work, for example, is truly astonishing and successful. He takes his inspiration from the ceremonies of one of the Afro-Cuban religious movements, Palo Monte, and uses a candle to blindly draw smoke-produced shapes on small plates. Originally, the drawings thus obtained would be the expression of a message from the Afro-Cuban gods, or from ancestors, intended for the person who came to consult the Palo Monte priest...
Another interesting and internationally renowned artist is the painter Niurka Rodriguez Inurrieta. She is considered one of the best young Cuban printmakers of her generation. She has already represented Cuba in some forty exhibitions worldwide, notably in Japan, Spain and France.
Although Cuba does not enjoy a great reputation for sculpture, contemporary art galleries are booming, and several of them exhibit sculptures, as can be seen at the "Souricière des Arts", or more officially the Fábrica de Arte Cubano. This FAC came into being in 2014 on the initiative of Cuban artist X Alfonso. Housed in a former oil factory in the Vedado district, this huge cultural, artistic and festive venue is the place to be. A real beating heart of Havana life, we recommend you set aside a few hours of your stay here!
