#10 FINDING FINE ART IN CUBA

Our docent at the Fine Arts Museum
beside a coffee house made of coffee pots!

WHERE I WENT AND WHY
On our trip to Cuba our first week was devoted to arts and architecture.  We visited the Cuban Fine Art Museum on our first day of the tour.

  

WHAT TO KNOW IF YOU WANT TO GO
There are two fine art museums in Havana, one completely devoted to Cuban artists and another with an international collection.  We went to the one by Cuban artists.  It is in Old Havana directly across from the Military Museum and the boat Fidel Castro used in their revolution.  The building was renovated a few years ago, but be careful.  Not all of the renovations "matched up" with the old building and you'll be walking along and suddenly there will be a 1-2 inch unmarked step!  The day we were there they were setting up for a concert in the atrium and the band had blown a circuit.  The docent kept apologizing for the "poor illumination."  The museum has many windows with natural light, so this did not deter us, and some rooms were lit.

WHAT I SAW
A docent took us through the museum.  We saw colonial, revolutionary, and modern art.  With a few exceptions, much of the art had fairly dark content.

This was entitled "The Happy Farmer"

WHAT I LEARNED
Cuban artists are chameleons.  They were easily influenced by the art movements in Europe.  We were shown several examples of an artist's work before visiting Europe and then just a few years later, their style would change radically to reflect the Cubism, or Expressionism they encountered on their trip.  

Much of the revolutionary art has only surfaced since 2000 when restrictions on artists were lessened even though much of it was done in the 50's.  

After visiting Andy Warhol in New York, the artist came back and did this painting of Fidel.

My favorite was this painting done after a visit to New York and Andy Warhol.

Among the faces are San Marti, the artist, his mother, Camilo Cienfuegos, Che Guevara, Lenin, Ho Chi Min, Castro (under the star) George Hamilton from the Beatles, Carl Marx, and Bogart .

After completing my tour and reflecting on the collection, I realized that the modern and contemporary art can also be defined by what is missing.  There was no art influenced by or using computers, video, or internet media.  Cuba is still in its internet infancy and artists have yet to adopt any of this new technology.  I guess that will be the next big influence when artists begin to travel outside of Cuba again.

IF MON$Y WERE NO OBJECT, WOULD I BUY IT
Most of the art was too political for my taste, and would require more history and context than I know.  With just a few exceptions, most of it had very dark content.  I did love this paper mache sculpture of Latin instruments.

WE LIKED IT SO MUCH WE BOUGHT IT
We actually bought the museum print/poster of the Warhol-type piece for $3!  A museum print would never cost that little in America!  Of course, let's not discuss how much it is costing me to have it framed!!