"Surely the most complete book on Cuban modernism to be published in English or Spanish. It will be indispensable to both the scholar and the general reader."--Julio Blanc, art historian"The most complete and lucid discussion of the vanguardia painters of the 1920s and 1930s available anywhere."--Louis A. Pérez, Jr., University of South FloridaThe strong and cohesive artistic avant-garde that emerged in Havana in the twenties was seminal in the evolution of the modern Cuban identity. Born around the turn of the century, the vanguardia painters shared the heady sense of confidence and nationalism that characterized progressive Cuban intellectuals of the time. This book, lavishly illustrated with reproductions of sixty paintings, rediscovers the vanguardia, describing for the first time in English its importance in Cuban history and culture. By 1927 the nucleus of the vanguardia artists (who showed their work that year in a series of exhibitions in Havana) had rejected the academic conventions of Cuba's national art academy. In their formative years, many had lived in Paris, where they studied and absorbed the tenets of surrealism, cubism, and modernist primitivism. They returned to Cuba committed to artistic innovation and eager to embrace the heritage of their island. They increasingly identified with the humble and exploited sectors of society, portraying the peasant--often depicted with a serious, dignified facial expression--and the countryside as symbols of national identity. The vanguardia artists achieved international recognition in 1944 with the Modern Cuban Painting show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York; in 1951 they came full circle to the city where they discovered their artistic vision with the Contemporary Cuban Art show in Paris. For most of this century, support for the Cuban vanguardia artists has been meager. Recently, however, the National Museum of Cuba has actively collected and organized retrospective exhibitions of their work, which is now widely recognized for its historic and aesthetic value. In the United States, the work of the vanguardia is displayed in museums from San Francisco to New York, and major holdings are on display at the Museum of Modern Art. In 1993 the Studio Museum in Harlem featured Wifredo Lam and His Contemporaries as its twenty-fifth anniversary show. Juan A. Martínez is assistant professor of art history at Florida International University. He lectures frequently on Cuban art at museums and conferences throughout the United States and he is the author of numerous articles and catalogue essays on Cuban art.

Cuban Art and National Identity: The Vanguardia Painters, 1927-1950

Arts & Photography

Mártinez, Juan A.

History & Criticism

University Press of Florida

Reviews from the first edition: “Inform[s] the reader of various factors, influences, and historical developments that contributed to the art of Cuba . . . an important resource pertinent to our field’s continued emphasis regarding cultural diversity.”— National Art Education Association News “This very special selection from the Cuban Foundation Collection traces the development and flowering of the arts in Cuba from the 1600s to 1959 and helps to establish a link for Floridians of Cuban heritage with their rich Cuban culture.”—Sandra Mortham, Florida Secretary of State The history of fine art in Cuba began in the colonial period and burst onto the international scene near the end of World War II with a groundbreaking show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Now available in a revised edition, Cuba: A History in Art offers one of the most comprehensive surveys of Cuban art available anywhere.
 Richly illustrated in full color, this volume is the first to present many of the most important Cuban paintings in the collection of the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach—called the “best of its kind” by Miami El Herald editor Roberto Fabricio. Featuring highlights on permanent exhibition, it includes landscapes, still lifes, portraits, genre and abstract works by the most important Cuban painters active between 1725 and 1959. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, these masters developed a unique tropical style based on European prototypes. After the First World War, Cuba blossomed with a new vision, full of the color and rhythms of a sophisticated modernism.
 Essays by renowned art historians Gary Libby and Juan Martínez offer a general aesthetic, historical, social, and cultural overview of Cuban art, providing context for their insights on these particular masterpieces. Especially interesting is the explanation of the convergence of cultural and political forces early in the twentieth century that made Havana and Cuba a center of modernism.
 A concise overview of a magnificent artistic tradition, this volume is a must-have addition to the bookshelf of anyone interested in how the Americas influenced the history of art.

Cuba: A History in Art

Libby,Gary R

One of the most revered members of “the Miami Generation,” a group of Cuban-born artists who emigrated to the United States, María Brito is a painter, sculptor, and installation artist best known for her elaborately constructed room-like works that embody narratives of loss and displacement. Brito also draws on personal iconography to create challenging works that are at once deeply autobiographical and reflect a profound fluency with the history of Western art. In this new volume in the landmark A Ver series and the first major book on Brito’s career, Juan A. Martinez examines the unique interplay of the personal and the universal in this Miami-based artist’s diverse mixed-media works.

María Brito (A Ver)

Chicano Studies Research Center

One of the most revered members of “the Miami Generation,” a group of Cuban-born artists who emigrated to the United States, María Brito is a painter, sculptor, and installation artist best known for her elaborately constructed room-like works that embody narratives of loss and displacement. Brito also draws on personal iconography to create challenging works that are at once deeply autobiographical and reflect a profound fluency with the history of Western art. In this new volume in the landmark A Ver series and the first major book on Brito’s career, Juan A. Martinez examines the unique interplay of the personal and the universal in this Miami-based artist’s diverse mixed-media works.

Maria Brito (A Ver: Revisioning Art History, Volume 4)

Richly illustrated in full color, this volume is the first to present many of the most important Cuban paintings in the collection of The Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach—called the “best of its kind” by Miami El Herald editor Roberto Fabricio. It contains the work of 30 Cuban artists and includes an essay on each artist and painting that provides an aesthetic, historical, social, and cultural overview. Of particular interest to Cuban art aficionados are essays by art historians Gary Libby and Juan Martinez, who discuss the rise of a Cuban style, its flowering in the Republican Period from 1902 to 1959, and the convergence of forces that made Havana a center of New World modernism in the early 20th century. Gary Libby also discusses the development of photography as an instrument of commerce and art.

Cuba--A History in Art

Modern Cuban art emerged in Havana in 1927 and matured during the next two decades. Its inception is mainly defined by a rupture with academic art, the appropriation of European avant-garde formal inventions, and the subjective symbolization of national ethos. In the 1940s a new generation of artists expanded their artistic sources to include popular art and explored new symbols of collective identity. By the 1950s a third generation of modernist artists abandoned figuration, the representation of Cuban themes, and turned to abstraction and introspection. Cuban Art in the Twentieth Century is an historical progression of works by important artists from a complex modern movement described by several discrete periods: Colonial, Early Republic, First Generation, Second Generation, Third Generation, Late Modern, and Contemporary Periods. The Cuban modern art movement consists of a loose group of artists, divided into generations, who counted on the moral support of an intellectual elite and who had minimal economic help from the private and public sectors. In spite of a fragile infrastructure, this art movement, along with similar movements in literature and music, played a major role in defining Cuban culture in the twentieth century. Segundo J. Fernandez is an art collector and guest curator. Juan A. Martínez is professor emeritus of art and art history at Florida International University and the author of several books, including Cuban Art and National Identity: The Vanguardia Painters, 1927–1950. Paul Niell is assistant professor in art history at Florida State University.

Cuban Art in the 20th Century: Cultural Identity and the International Avant Garde

Fernandez, Segundo J.

Niell, Paul

FSU Museum of Fine Arts

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