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

Arts & Photography

Mártinez, Juan A.

Fernandez, Segundo J.

Niell, Paul

History & Criticism

FSU Museum of Fine Arts

Land Art, as it is talked about in the context of contemporary art, was one of the seminal movements beginning in the late 1960s that led to a radically changed view of how we define art today. Largely born out of a frustration with the growing commercialization of the art world and the limitations the traditional “white cube” gallery offered as site for experiencing works of art, at its core this movement sought to tie together artwork and the landscape into which the works were inextricably merged. This book asks, what is the new face of Land Art fifty years after its birth? Who are its practitioners? And, perhaps most importantly, how have the ideas and practices evolved to address the challenges and concerns of today? One theme explored in this book is how the role of the artist is beginning to shift from actor to witness. Instead of instigating changes to the land, artists are using their work to document and assess the far greater ecological damage and transformation to our landscapes born out of irresponsible economic and environmental policies. Conversely, others are investigating the temporality of our impact, demonstrating that given time, any human mark within the landscape will eventually erode away. Additional themes addressed include a perceived dislocation from the landscapes we occupy (in favor of climate controlled and virtual spaces), the politics of borders and fences, and the unsatisfactory preparation provided by past and contemporary myths when addressing collective challenges. While Land Art is a staple of any rigorous survey of contemporary art, what is being researched in Broken Ground is the legacy of Land Art and its evolution from a largely coherent practice into an incredibly diverse range of explorations by a new generation of artists.

Broken Ground: New Directions in Land Art

Collections, Catalogs & Exhibitions

Aubrey Beardsley: The Aesthetics of Decadence and the Line Block Print

From the Foreword by Paul B. Niell: “To decolonize refinement, to us, is to critique the role of visual and material culture in the constitution of the coloniality of power from 1492 to the present from the myriad perspectives of the marginalized. Through this collaboration with Edouard Duval-Carrié, we have come to know an artist who grapples with the coloniality of art and its histography. By his critically acclaimed body of work, Edouard has committed himself to opening up spaces of contemplation, critical reflection, and paradox, where the images and objects of empire sometimes become the very agents employed to challenge and unsettle the conventions that shape the way we see the world.” The work of Edouard Duval-Carrié, a Haitian-born painter and sculptor, often engages and complicates the legacy of refinement in the Caribbean. He is an artist of both the modern and colonial worlds and incorporates the very products of modernity into his work―from plastics to photographs―cleverly juxtaposing refined materials with images to critique the processes of modern fabrication through historical systems of oppression, stratification, and invisibility. This catalog adopts the theme of ‘refinement’ and seeks to decolonize this notion through a juxtaposition of art and historical artifacts from the southeastern United States with Duval-Carrié’s contemporary work.

Decolonizing Refinement: Contemporary Pursuits in the Art of Edouard Duval-Carrié

In 2010, artist and biologist Brandon Ballengée saw firsthand the largest environmental disaster in United States history?the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Within this book are his visual responses to the tragedy; locked in jars, suspended in alcohol, posed in petri dishes, Ballengée?s forms tell stories of species altered and obliterated. His prints, sculptures, and field projects are a narrative of the human impact in the recently-christened ?Anthropocene Era.? By implicating us in their creation, the projects also inspire us to learn more about the ecology of these complex, often fragile ecosystems and the animals living there. Distributed on behalf of the Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts

Le Sang Noir: Brandon Ballengée

Individual Artists