Artifact #4: The history of art in Cuba
The history of art in Cuba
Cuban art has a long history that dates back to the early 16th-century Spanish colonial era and the island nation's independence in 1902 following the Spanish American War of 1898. It carries on into the early 20th century and beyond the 1959 Cuban Revolution in the middle of the century.
Cuban painters use a variety of contemporary influences in their works of art, such as visual styles that are prevalent throughout the Caribbean, traditional tribal arts from African and Native American cultures, and styles from Europe and North America.
Spanish and European art forms, including painting, architecture, and sculpture, dominated a significant portion of Cuban art history. Over the past century, new styles have supplanted the traditions of Cuban artwork.
Cuban Artworks
A History of Cuban Art throughout the Colonial Era From 150 until 1900, Cuba and the Caribbean islands that surround it were under Spanish rule. Leaders in Spain decreed that commissions for buildings, busts, landscapes, and portraits could only be made by the rich. Spanish art schools were founded on the island, influencing Cuban creative output. Realisticism, romanticism, classicism, and neoclassicism emerged as the main aesthetic motifs of Cuban art throughout that period.
Cuban Art History: Cuban Artworks' Independence
After Cuba gained its independence from Spain in 1898, artists from the island were able to question the state of the island's cultural landscape. Ten years later, the Vanguardia painters made a revolutionary breakthrough in Cuban art, using surrealism and cubism to depict Cuban life rather than the traditional methods taught in Cuban art schools.
Cuban paintings and prints were at a crossroads in 1950. Since visitors were the main source of income for Cuban artists at the time, some of them departed the island in search of greater professional prospects.
Other painters remained in the nation to create government-sponsored Cuban artwork and prints. Cuban artists of the period welcomed the socialist revolution, which gave them the opportunity to depict Cuban life as a colony of the Spanish Empire. Non-revolutionary art was discouraged and art was regulated by the Cuban socialist party. Cuban artists started making art independently of government control around 1980.
I chose this as my artifact because art is essential to any society. It is the way we humans express ourselves and our thoughts. The feelings we have but can’t put into words are expressed through unique mediums which we call art. It can be simple and quick with no meaning behind it while some pieces can influence an entire generation. Without art, life would be colorless and dull leaving us with a giant hole in our soul. This relates to Spanish culture because painting and muralism is a significant medium for Latino and Hispanic Americans to communicate their experiences and culture to a global audience. Muralism is a popular technique among Hispanic and Latino artists to capture the richness and variety of their culture.
Murals in Cuba
One of the most known and respected contemporary artists from Cuba is Roberto Fabelo, a well-known painter, illustrator, and sculptor from Cuba. His intriguing artworks featuring nude ladies with bird-like traits, such beaks and wings, are arguably his most well-known works.
Roberto Fabelo’s Paintings
Born in Cuba in 1902, Wifredo Lam was a significant figure in Latin American modern art. His parents were a Chinese father and an Afro-Cuban woman of Spanish origin. He went on to study in the Museo del Prado in Madrid on a scholarship after graduating from the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro in Havana in 1923. He remained there until 1938.
Wifredo Lam’s Paintings
Citations
Schneider, Mark. “Cuban Art History.” MLA Gallery, MLA Gallery, 21 Jan. 2014, mlagallery.com/blogs/cuban-art/11743473-cuban-art-history.
Wifredo Lam | Moma, www.moma.org/artists/3349. Accessed 13 Nov. 2023.
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