Che Guevara and the Cuban Art Movement
July 12th, 2009
Cuban artistry is a distinct multiethnic coalescence of American, African and European visual design mirroring the contrasting population make-up of Cuba. Cuban artisans took onboard European modernism and the early part of the 20th century witnessed an expansion in Cuban vanguardism movements; these movements were identified by a variety of contemporary aesthetic styles. Noted Cuban creatives were likely to come from the early part of the 1900s (for example Amelia Pelez).
Possibly the most notable piece of art to come out of Cuba was THAT photograph of Che Guevara (photo by Mr Alberto Korda) which was to become arguably one of the most recognisable photos of the 20th century.
The native Cuban art movement amassed momentum after the opening of the the art academy (San Alejandro) back in 1818, which was constructed to live up to the European taste of the bourgeoisie population of Cuba. In the late 19th century, landscape paintings dominated Cuban art and classicalism was still the genre of choice.
Nevertheless, the Vanguardia Cuban contemporary artists of the 1920s had spurned the academic orthodoxies of the national art academy of Cuba. In their genesis, numerous artists had resided in France, where they learned and ingested the tenets of surrealism, cubism, and modernist primitivism. Once back in Cuba, they became committed to new aesthetic styles and were eager to mix this new artistic persuasion with a Cuban twist. The vanguardia artists attained world acclaim only as recently as 2003 with the Modern Cuban Painting show at the MOMA in New York.
Entry Filed under: Creative Arts