Abstraction in Cuba
PanAmerican Art Projects, Miami
Antonia Eiriz used to refer to Guido Llinás’s grocery store, where the works of Cuban abstract painters were kept − forgotten for almost twenty years − as “the catacombs of Cuban art”, and the fact is that the history of abstract art in Cuba reflects one of the most difficult paths within the panorama of the visual arts of the island, since this art was faced more often than not with rejection or incomprehension, or with downright oblivion.
Towards the 1950s and coinciding with international trends in art, the language of abstraction became consolidated in Havana in its two facets, the informalist and the concrete, which soon led to the creation of two founding groups: el grupo de Los Once (The Eleven) and Diez Pintores Concretos (Ten Concrete Painters).
Parallel to this boost, Juan Marinello published in Havana, in 1958, Conversación con nuestros pintores abstractos[1] (Conversation with our Abstract Painters). The pamphlet, reprinted in 1960 and wielded as cultural policy, meant the defenestration of every non-figurative trend. “Abstraction in Cuba ”, organized by Panamerican Art Projects, presents an excellent selection of the works of the immemorial figures of that period of abstract art in Cuba. They are Guido Llinás and Raúl Martínez, Loló Soldevilla and Raúl Milián.
The main gallery hall has been devoted to the tempestuous gesture of Raúl Martínez and Guido Llinás, both of them members of Los Once. In the case of the works by Martínez (1927-1995), visitors have the privilege of witnessing the formal evolution of this leading figure of Cuban painting.
There are excellent examples of the first stage, characterized by impulsive blotches. The exhibition includes two of Martínez’s emblematic works: Homenaje a la Ori, and Sin título (Homenaje a Salomón), both dating from the early 1960s and reflecting the passage from abstraction to the Pop language that would characterize Martínez’s later works. In the case of the work dedicated to Salomón, the excellent piece forms part of an intimate series by the artist, dedicated to other Cuban painters of that time, as for example, Chago Armada (the creator of the emblematic character, Salomón).
In the case of Guido Llinás, the show exhibits a couple of exponents of his series of works with jute, in which the preference for playing with different materials and hyper-textures is essential.
As regards Loló Soldevilla, the first piece in the exhibition space devoted to his work is an atypical canvas featuring blues and purples. The exquisite piece, dated 1958, is endowed with a strong evocative power.
The show includes a series of works in mixed media on wood panel in which the sense of progression and interdependence of the forms is fundamental.
Raúl Milián, in turn, is represented by a selection of ink paintings characteristic of this enigmatic artist.
As a sample of the diversity that characterized this period of the island’s visual arts, “Abstraction in Cuba ” is a not-to-be-missed exhibit.
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Untitled (Sin titulo), 1957.Oil on canvas, 19 x 33.4 in./Óleo sobre tela, 48 x 85 cm
Photo/Fotografía: Fernanda Torcida. Courtesy/Cortesía PanAmericanArtProjects, Miami.
