A Closer Look at Cuban Art and Its Influences
Cuban art is an assorted ethnic merging of African, European and North American visual design reflecting the multi-ethnic demographic of the island. Cuban artisans adopted European modernism and the 1920-1930 era witnessed an increase in Cuban modernist trends; these movements were identified by a variety of modern aesthetic genres. Famous Cuban creatives tended to hail from the early part of the 1900s (e.g. Amelia Pelez).
Arguably the most legendary art (of sorts) to hail from Cuba was THAT picture of Che Guevara (by Mr Alberto Korda) which was to become possibly one of the most famous images of the past century.
The indigenous Cuban artist movement amassed momentum following the opening of the the art academy (San Alejandro) back in 1818, which was constructed to meet the European preference of the Cuban bourgeoisie. Towards the end of the 1800s, landscape paintings were very popular within the Cuban art movement and classicism prevailed as the main art style. Nonetheless, the Vanguardia Cuban modern artists of the 1920s had despised the theoretical formulas of Cuba’s national art academy. During their early years, numerous Cuban artists had resided in France, where they learned and engaged in the fundamentals of cubism, surrealism and modernist primitivism. They returned to Cuba dedicated to ground-breaking aesthetic methods and were motivated to blend this new artistic leaning with a Cuban influence. The pioneering artists accomplished worldwide recognition in 2003 when the Museum of Modern Art presented the the Modern Cuban Painting show. Such styles are now fashionable through canvas artwork adorned on walls worldwide.
