Modern Art Primer: Cubism and Cuba
Cuban artistry is an assorted multiethnic coalescence of African, European and North American visual design reflecting the distinct population make-up of the island. Cuban artisans adopted European modernism and the 1920-1930 era saw an increase in Cuban vanguardism movements; these trends were identified by a variety of contemporary esthetic genres. Legendary Cuban artists tended to come from the earlier 1900s.
It’s been argued that the most legendary piece of art to be produced in the island of Cuba was THAT photograph of a certain Che Guevara (photo by Alberto Korda) which ended up being arguably one of the most noted images of the 20th century.
The local Cuban art cause amassed momentum after the opening of San Alejandro academy in 1818, which was developed to fulfil the European preference of the middle class population of Cuba. Towards the end of the 1800s, landscapes were very popular within the Cuban art movement and classicalism prevailed as the main art style.
Even So, the Vanguardia Cuban contemporary artist of the late 1920s had scorned the theoretical rules of Cuba’s national art academy. In their early years, many artists had resided in France, where they learned and assimilated the fundamentals of modernist primitivism, surrealism, and cubism. They returned to Cuba dedicated to new artistic styles and were keen to integrate this new artistic persuasion with a Cuban twist. The vanguardia artists accomplished world acclaim back in 2003 when the Museum of Modern Art displayed the the Modern Cuban Painting show.
