The Silent Shout: Voices in Cuban Abstraction 1950 -2013. Hugo Consuegra, Sandu Darie, Carlos Garcia, Luis Enrique Lopez, Raul Martinez, Pedro de Oraa, Jose Rosabal, Lolo Soldevilla, Jose Angel Vincench.

Voices in Cuban Abstract Art, 1950-20131

LOLÓ SOLDEVILLA Untitled, 1956 Mixed media on wood, 20.5 x 41 in Private collection, Miami, FL

Abstraction in Cuba has been marked by incomprehension

Sculpture, held Jan. 10-25 of that year in the galleries of the

due to its persistently erroneous classification as an isolated or

Capitolio Nacional building, showed the abstract drive within the

transitional stage, when in fact it is one of the most significant

new generation, which until then had been working in a dispersed,

expressions of the nation’s artistic tradition, one whose subsequent

isolated way. Years later, the creation of the Color-Luz gallery in

repercussion in art was fundamental.

1957, by Loló Soldevilla and Pedro de Oraá, and the formation a

The Cuban abstract movement, which came into being with

year later of the group 10 Pintores Concretos3 would complete

unusual force on the national art scene in the early 1950s, is

the shaping of the 1950s abstract scene, which was not exempt of

comparable only to two other moments in the nation’s art history:

tensions, risks, and misunderstandings.

the historical vanguardia, or avant-garde, in the orbit of the

Let’s pause here. Cuba’s historic vanguardia, immersed in Latin

magazine Revista de Avance (1927 -1930) and Exposición de Arte

American tradition, is identified with an esthetic renewal that is

Nuevo (Exhibition of New Art, 1927), and the New Cuban Art,

associated with a search for national identity. In the visual arts, this

clustered around the exhibition Volumen I, in 1980. The inrush

concern was translated into a negation of academic painting, which

of abstraction signified, for the first time in the history of Cuban

is characterized—with rare exceptions—by European-influenced

art, a modernization with respect to international art tendencies

styles and themes. Assuming as a point of reference the languages

at the forefront. In reacting to the dominance of narrative and

of the European historical vanguard—with marked differences—this

the predominance of a sweetened, folkloric view of being Cuban,

generation incorporated sectors that previously had been excluded

abstract artists, accompanied by a particular ethical intransigence,

from the world of visual arts or had been treated in an idyllic or

proposed an entirely new approach that in one fell swoop did away

unreal way, placing them on the frontline for the first time. It was

with the rigid figurative art tradition in Cuba.

the same with other areas, such as landscapes, traditional popular

In 1953, two key exhibitions were held: Quince Pintores y Escultores (Fifteen Painters and Sculptors), Feb. 16-26 at the

culture, and social themes. This was the artistic panorama into which the radical abstract

Sociedad Nuestro Tiempo, and Once Pintores y Escultores (Eleven

movement entered. This irreverent movement, which also was

Painters and Sculptors), Apr. 18-28 at the still-unfinished shopping

the result of the political frustrations and fluctuations of the

center La Rampa. These two shows marked the definitive entry

nation at the time, was a tabula rasa that attacked “not only

of art in Cuba into modern times. It was arrival of the Los Once

academia, moth-eaten and moribund, but also the thematic,

group.2 As a precedent, the IV National Salon of Painting and

formal and colorist essence” 4 of the vanguardia. The Jan. 28, 1954

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JOSÉ ROSABAL Untitled, (Spring -May) 2013 Acrylic on canvas 52 x 35 in

opening of the exhibition Homenaje a José Martí (Tribute to José Martí), also known as the Antibienal (Anti-Biennial) or Bienal Antifranquista (Anti-Franco Biennial)5 was a milestone in Cuban art. It was a convergence of three generations that were active in the life of the Republic at that time, joined by their common spirit of rejection of the 2nd Hispanic-American Art Biennial, which was set for May 18 of that year at Havana’s Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. The Antibienal was transcendent for the group’s rebellious spirit, capable of overcoming esthetic differences in the interest of an ethical attitude. This type of group action with ethical connotations—exceptional in Cuban artistic tradition— was unparalleled for decades until other radical movements interestingly returned to the question of abstraction and national

The final stumbling block for abstraction appeared with the

identity. Despite its unifying character, the Antibienial marked the

1958 publication of Conversación con nuestros pintores abstractos

radical division between the two first waves of Cuban modernism

(Conversation with our abstract painters) by Juan Marinello, an

and that of the young painters who were throwing themselves

essay that was republished in 1960 and 1961, accusing abstract art

completely into abstraction.

of being dehumanizing, a copy of something foreign, superficial,

The abstract movement seemed to challenge every rule. Through its works and aptitudes, this new approach also went beyond Manichean dichotomies brandished by restricted postures on

and internationalist, which “played the game” of the oppressors at home and abroad. In the framework of the 1959 revolution, abstract language

identity, such as international (equated with “cosmopolitanism”)

was questioned again. The new social changes demanded

versus national; or abstraction (described as “evasive”) versus the

a recontextualization of art’s social commitment and the

need for a commitment to reality.6

creation of art for the masses, echoing Marinello’s position. The

The Cuban abstract adventure had to navigate against the

movement’s relationship with the tendencies of U.S. abstract

current, on the one hand setting itself up as a negation of that

expressionism and European Tachisme was viewed as a foreign-

evolutionary line which, embodied in modernism, was based on a

influenced tendency. While abstraction was not openly limited,

complacent line toward being Cuban, and on the other, an absence

it was silenced. As a consequence of a logical evolution and/

of official support. Lastly, Cuban abstraction had to face a division

or compelled by the demands of the revolution, some artists

among the critics, which, broadly speaking, could be divided

rechanneled their work toward figurative. Others who disagreed

into two groups: that which inherited the most orthodox ideas,

with the radicalization of the revolutionary process left the

identified with the Partido Socialista Popular (Popular Socialist

country, including Pedro Álvarez, Hugo Consuegra, Guido Llinás,

Party), and which sought to overcome abstraction at all costs;

Julio Matilla, José Rosabal, Tapia Ruano, Zilia Sánchez y Viredo,

and the other, which saw the intrinsic value of abstraction as a

and others. Sandú Darié, Salvador Corratgé, Luis Martínez Pedro,

relevant line within the concrete reality of that time. This second

Loló Soldevilla, and Antonio Vidal, for their part, continued their

group included figures such as Guy Pérez Cisneros, José Antonio

creative process in dauntless solitude, outside of the hegemonic

Portuondo, Joaquín Texidor, José Álvarez Baragaño, Graciela

cultural policy.

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Pogolotti and Edmundo Desnoes.

By the late 1960s, Cuban abstraction had been silenced.

Another important fact to emphasize is that occasionally the

Negotiating the commitment that the times demanded, art sought

critics would evade the openly political nature of the abstract atti-

alternatives to the hardline of socialist realism, and found support

tude, which was profoundly rooted in the informal current, which

in tendencies such as pop and photo realism. Abstract artists who

also contributed to a reduction to mere formalist interpretation

continued working in soliloquy in and outside the country were

of Cuban abstract art of that decade, echoed among subsequent

joined by new artists from subsequent generations: Ernesto Briel,

generations.

Carlos García, Elpidio Huerta, Eduardo Rubén, José Omar Torres, 37

Raúl Santos Zerpa, Carlos Trillo, Julia Valdés, and many others.

Far from being motivated by nostalgia, the exhibition proved

Nevertheless, the abstract tendency was not an object of interest,

that the movement enjoyed very good health. The work of Antonio

and after the symptomatic exhibition Expresionismo Abstracto

Vidal, Raúl Martínez, Julio Girona, Salvador Corratgé, Pedro de Oraá

(Abstract Expressionism), held at Galería Habana in 1963, there

and Martínez Pedro coexisted in a vibrant dialogue with that of José

were none that appealed to this pulsar of art in Cuba.

Franco, Carlos García, Flavio Garciandía, Vásquez Martín, Glexis

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Pinturas del Silencio (Pantings of Silence, Galería Acacia, 1997),

Novoa, Eduardo Rubén, Sandra Ceballos, Ramón Serrano and José

a curatorial project by two young painters who were interested in

A. Vincench, in a common treasure that revealed a surreptitious and

abstraction—Ramón Serrano and José Ángel Vincench—unearthed

extremely rich line of continuity more than five decades long.

for the first time in more than three decades crucial works from

The catalog’s essays pointed to the pernicious tendency toward

the Cuban abstract tradition. Some were recovered from artists’

antiquated polar classifications into systems of representation

workshops, such as Sin título (Untitled), by Antonio Vidal, 1960;

such as abstract and figurative, resulting in the exclusion of lines

others, in an extremely poor state, were in the vaults of the Museo

of work within the Cuban tradition where abstraction has been the

Nacional de Bellas Artes. The most symptomatic case was the

language of use or discursive strategy.

work of Luis Martínez Pedro, from the series Aguas Territoriales

After the inrush of the New Cuban Art, with the emblematic

(Territorial Waters); moldy and mildewed, it was exhibited

exhibition Volumen I, very solid abstract works appeared, such as

as such. Its deterioration supported the curatorial thesis: the

those by Carlos García, Dania del Sol, Gustavo Pérez Monzón, the

oblivion surrounding the abstract tradition in Cuba.

4 x 4 group, and others. With respect to groups, we must mention three collective shows that were never held: one devoted to landscapes, another to still lifes, and the third to abstraction (Es lo que ves / It is only what you see, which is on the resumes of many central figures from this generation). This was also the period of the symptomatic work of Lázaro Saavedra, El arte un arma de lucha (Art a weapon for struggle), which depicted a complacent still life with a vase in the style of a 1940s Cuban painting, or the abstract-expressionist works of Glexis Novoa, generally untitled, where the artist wrote graffiti-like phrases such as “This painting is Cuban and that’s enough,” from Sin título (Untitled, 1988), included in the exhibition Pinturas del Silencio, and “This painting is made by a young painter, born in Cuba, and who lives in the revolution” (Sin título, 1988). None of these exhibitions were held, but they all returned to the old controversy of art at the service of social needs. Only a group action was held, La plástica cubana se dedica al Beisbol (The Cuban visual arts is dedicated to Baseball), at the José Antonio Echevarría sports field, where the group decided to dedicate itself to a sphere of society that was privileged and exempt from conflict. Following Pinturas del Silencio, a number of exhibitions have been devoted to Cuban abstract art. Some that deserve to be mentioned include Tono a Tono (Salón de la Solidaridad, Hotel Habana Libre Tryp, Havana, Cuba, 2000), La Razón de la Poesía (MNBA, Havana, 2002), Uno, Dos Tres,… Once! (MNBA, Havana, 2003), La Otra Realidad (MNBA, Havana, 2010) and América Fría (Juan March Foundation, Madrid, 2011). El Grito Silencioso: Voces en la Abstracción en Cuba, 1950 -2013 (The Silent Shout: Voices in Cuban Abstract Art, 1950-2013) falls into that line of open questioning that was introduced by Pinturas del Silencio, and reestablishes the relevance of that essential historic cause, the Cuban abstract tradition. To keep the dialogue active, nine artists were invited to the exhibition, some of whom were part of Pinturas del Silencio. Others are voices that have been absent for some time; and another is a newcomer that we believe to have particular personality. The show includes pieces by Hugo Consuegra, Sandú Darié, Carlos García, Luis Enríque López, Raúl Martínez, Pedro de Oraá, José Rosabal, Loló Soldevilla, and José Angel Vincench.

CARLOS GARCÍA CARDINALES Untitled, 2012 Mixed media on carboard 44 x 24 in

Consuegra and Martínez, members of the Los Once group, are represented with the purest of the abstract expressionist tendency in their work, considering that both had significant figurative hiatuses. The exercises of Hugo Consuegra’s expressionist abstraction evolve from strict control of expression to a certain degree of expressive freedom, always combining the use of titles with messages in a moralistic anecdotal tone. Between 1965 and 1966 Consuegra used representation as a form of protest against

1. Excerpts from catalog essays for the exhibition with this title, by Janet Batet and Rafael DiazCasas. 2. The group Los Once (The Eleven) was known for its openness, which is why the number of artists varied from one exhibition to another. The group’s name comes from the number of participants at the 1953 La Rampa show: painters—René Ávila, José Ignacio Bermúdez, Hugo Consuegra, Fayad Jamís, Guido Llinás, Antonio Vidal, Viredo Espinosa; sculptors—Francisco Antigua, Agustín Cárdenas, José Antonio Díaz Peláez, and Tomás Oliva. After

the weight of official support for figurativism, creating a series of

Bermúdez left, Raúl Martínez joined the group. With time and a

twelve figurative paintings that stand as a banner to nonconformist

logical decanting process, it was reduced to Guido Llinás, Antonio

art. Raúl Martínez experimented more freely with body-language and color, making way for optimism and a unique sense of direction. In the 1960s, he explored figurativism as the organic development of his form of expression, and he embraced pop art, nationalizing it and contextualizing it within Cuban society. Sandú Darié, the only active member of the MADI group who

Vidal, Hugo Consuegra, Raúl Martínez and sculptor Tomás Oliva. It should be noted here that there were people who were not in the group but who were fundamental to its years of creation and the development of its ideological profile, and Consuegra calls them “honorary members”; they are Manuel Vidal, Juan Tapia Ruano, Abelardo Estorino and Antonia Eiriz. 3. Formed in Havana in 1958, dissolved in 1961. Made up of Pedro

is based in Cuba, was the major abstract enthusiast. Interested

Álvarez, Wilfredo Arcay, Salvador Corratgé, Sandú Darié,

in geometric abstraction since the 1950s, like Carmen Herrera,

Luis Martínez Pedro, Alberto Menocal, José Mijares, Pedro de

he continued to show his work on the Havana/New York/Paris axis. He was not only the first to hold an exhibition of lyrical abstraction, but also, in 1950, his show Estructuras Pictóricas (Pictorial Structures)9 was the first and only MADI exhibition in Cuba. Around 1955, he and Luis Martínez Pedro proposed the first exhibition of Concrete Art in the country.10 Darié, Loló Soldevilla and Pedro de Oraá were part of the initial group of 10 Pintores Concretos (10 Concrete Painters), joined subsequently by José Rosabal. Over the years, Loló maintained a double poetics: her strong interests in geometrical abstraction never prevented her from continuing with figuration; meanwhile, Oraá explores an organic geometry that sometimes becomes radical, recently giving way to the use of new technologies for playing with concrete forms. Rosabal, who in the 1960s was temporarily Lezama’s assistant, settled in New York and for the last decade has moved from minimalist to expressionist experiments. After years of professional dedication to textile design, he returned to geometrical abstraction with large-format pieces of heroic strength, informed by his interest in architecture and dance. A member of the 80s Generation, Carlos García explores the paths opened by Los Once, sometimes with similar narratives despite having much more eclectic interests that explore a playful approach between the figurative and the abstract based on everyday sensitivity. His work combines elements of European Informalism and U.S. Neo-Expressionism (New York, 1980s). Using geometrical forms to distance himself from any type of representative symbolism, Luis Enrique López plays with the depiction of light and the human eye’s adaptation to it. His work is

Oráa, Loló Soldevilla and Rafael Soriano; José Rosabal joined subsequently. 4. Consuegra, Hugo. Elapso Tempore. Ediciones Universal, Miami, 2001, p37. 5. Homenaje a José Martí came out of opposition to the Fulgencio Batista government’s proposal to have the 2nd Hispanic American Art Biennial coincide with the celebration of José Martí’s 100th birthday. The event, held in collaboration with the Madrid Institute of Hispanic Culture, openly displayed its support for the Franco government; it soon encountered resistance among Cuban intellectuals. The 2nd Hispanic American Art Biennial was to be held at Havana’s Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. Meanwhile, the Antibienial opened its doors at the Lyceum and Lawn Tennis Club, a non-state institution known for its association with culture since its opening in 1929. The show circulated through Havana, Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey, ending up at the First University Festival of Cuban Contemporary Art. 6. Batet, Janet. “Catacumbas del arte cubano”. In: Pinturas del Silencio. Galería Acacia, Havana (1997). p4. 7. One of the policies for the group’s disintegration was the offer of awards and scholarship through the National Institute of Culture. Los Once held a common posture of not participating in any official mechanism, and of refraining from accepting any prizes or scholarships granted by government-associated with the government. 8. Expresionismo abstracto (Abstract expressionism, Jan. 11-Feb. 3). Galería de La Habana, Havana (1963). 9. Estructuras Pictóricas. Sandú Darié (Pictorial Structures. Sandú Darié Oct. 9-20). Lyceum, Havana (1950). 10. Exhibition by Sandú Darié and Martínez Pedro (Apr. 25-May 1). University of Havana School of Social Sciences.

a sagacious view into the inner collective subconscious of Cuban society today. Vincench holds a more radical position, using pure form and its deconstruction to explore social interests, everyday life, and the country’s recent political history.

JOSÉ ÁNGEL VINCENCH Exilio X, 2013 Gold leaf on linen 24 x 24 in 39