Cuban art

**Cuban art** has been known since the 16th century.

In the 16th century, painters and sculptors began arriving from Europe. They made decorations (including paintings and sculptures), in Cuban churches and public buildings. By the mid-1700s, native-born artists were painting in Cuba, in the European tradition of painting.

Many works of art were left behind by José Nicolás de la Escalera (d. 1804). For many of those works, there is proof that he was the one who painted those.

Vicente Escobar (d. 1834) was a *mestizo*, and he did portraits; He opened [the first, or] one of the first painting workshop/studios in Cuba. He later graduated from the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid.

Víctor Patricio de Landaluze (d. 1889) was a Spanish-born artist, and he was an early artist of the *costumbrismo* genre. He was opposed to Cuban independence, and that cost him some of his popularity with the public.

## After the Colonial Era
By the late 1920s [an Avant-garde movement,] the Vanguardia, had rejected convention [or some norms] of Cuba's national art academy. Most of the Vanguardia artists had been students at the national art academy. Many had lived in Paris (France), where they learned (more) about Surrealism, Cubism, and modernist Primitivism. Those genres (or styles) gave inspiration to the Vanguardia artists.

Pioneer s (or the first to be part) of the movement included Eduardo Abela, Antonio Gattorno, Victor Manuel, Fidelio Ponce de León, and Carlos Enríquez Gómez. Other famous artists of the original Vanguardia were Amelia Peláez, Jorge Arche, Marcelo Pogolotti, Aristides Fernandez, Rafael Blanco, Domingo Ravenet, Alberto Peña, and Lorenzo Romero Arciaga. Victor Manuel painted it. During stays in Paris, he had been impressed by the works of Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin.

In 1938, the Second National Salon of Painting and Sculpture, showed art works. Some of the artists there, have been called part of a second generation of modern artists, including Cundo Bermudez, Mario Carreño, Rita Longa, Alfredo Lozano, Luis Martinez-Pedro, and René Portocarrero (The painting is in a museum in the United States. It was bought in 1945.)

In 1944 in New York City (USA), the art exhibition "Modern Cuban Painters" was held at MoMA. That year Mario Carreño had a solo exhibition (or his own exhibition) at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

In 1951 in Paris (France), an exhibition of modern Cuban art was shown at the Musée national d'Art moderne.

In the 1960s and 1970s conceptual art was introduced. Minimalism, Earth art, and Performance art was (sometimes) mixed with conceptual art

In 1984 the first Havana Biennial was held. (There have been biennials as late as 2015 and 2019, and the one in 2021 was boycotted by hundreds of artists [and many foreign spectators].

 of Naïve art has been emulated (or copied) by a trained artist, then the result is sometimes called *primitivism*, *pseudo-art*, or *faux naïve art*. [The domino players] *Juego de Domino*, oil on canvas, 2008. The artist (José Rodríguez Fuster) was trained at *Escuela Nacional de Instructores de Arte in Havana*.]]
In 1997 in New York City (USA), the exhibition *Naïve Art in Cuba*, was held at Metropolitan Arts Center. It showed  the art of fourteen Cuban artists of Naïve art, and art from eight members of the *Grupo Bayate*, an artists' collective (or group) from Mella, Santiago de Cuba. 

As of 2015, few artists of Naïve art have had works shown at art salons (or other exhibitions, such as) the biennial of Havana.

## Gallery

Untitled white library at mona.JPG| "Untitled" (White Library) by Wilfredo Prieto. The installation was exhibited at biennial exhibitions in Singapore and Venice. (Picture from Australia in 2013)
AmeliaJGS003.jpg|Amelia Peláez (d. 1968) and art
La Jura de Santa Gadea. Armando Menocal. 1889.JPG|*Jura de Santa Gadea* (1887) by Armando Menocal
J. BERNAL, MADRE TIERRA (THE GOOD EARTH), 1943.jpg|[ Mother earth] *Madre tierra*, 1943 by José Bernal
Manuel Mendive.jpg|Manuel Mendive and art (c. 2008)
Jeannine ACHON.jpg|Jeannine Achón in front of art
Leticia ST.jpg|Leticia (2010) by Ania Toledo Hernández. Oil painting
Mariano Rodriguez - La paloma de la paz, 1940.jpg|[ The dove of peace] *La paloma de la paz* (1940), by Mariano Rodríguez
Julia Valdes in Habana.jpg|Julia Valdes with art
Paisaje rural. Mariano Tobeñas.JPG|Art by Mariano Tobeñas (d. 1952)
Pintor_exibiendo_su_obra.jpg|right|Benjamín Duarte Jiménez (d. 1974) with a hand on art
Carreno, Mario - Mural en Vaparaiso 01.jpg|A mural (in Chile), by Mario Carreño (d. 1999)
Llegué, vi, vencí..jpg|Art by Gabriel Sánchez
Estructuras del Futuro.png|*Estructuras del Futuro* by Juan Miguel Pozo
80 x 60 cm.jpg|Art by Maykel Herrera Pacheco
Eleomar Puente.png|Eleomar Puente in front of art

## Related pages
*Tomás Sánchez (1948-)

## References