3. • Portraits and Figures
• The Landscape and the city
• Historical Themes
• Allegory, Symbol, Imagination, and
Abstraction
• Afro-Cuban culture
THEMES
4. • Is the most frequent theme in the history of our painting.
• Until 1925 the only individuals portrayed were rich and
government officials.
• In 1925, with the emergence of the first generation of modern
Cuban painters, portraiture radically altered its function. The
models for these new artists were friends, other artists, and
writers.
PORTRAITS AND FIGURES
5. • In the 60’s there was a new relevant function. Besides the
portraits of unidentified persons who symbolize the people, the
images of heroes forcefully emerged. The artists recreated the
faces of Fidel Castro, Ernesto Che Guevara, and other heroes side
by side with the people.
PORTRAITS AND FIGURES
12. • In Colonial landscape human figures, always played accessory
roles.
• Influenced by Romanticism.
• The idealization of the landscape incorporated the sugar
mill, the living quarter, the servants, and the slaves.
THE LANDSCAPE AND THE CITY
13. • After 1925 the presence of human figures dominated the scene.
The color and light were better suited to depict tropical climates
than the romantic one.
• Small interest most Cuban painters have shown for marine
landscape.
THE LANDSCAPE AND THE CITY
19. • Besides biblical subjects the Academy paid special attention to historical
themes.
• The version depicted was the Spanish government’s, never the one held by
those who advocated independence.
HISTORICAL THEMES
20. • During the 1920’s and 1930’s, some allusion to social realities emerged
through the representation of events resulting from a historical situation of
oppression painters had the conscience to denounce.
• With the revolutionary triumph, the contemporary character of the historical
theme, to which painters felt connected, emerged.
HISTORICAL THEMES
25. • Some contemporary painters introduced in their works
symbols of our mestizo condition, emphasizing our
African heritage. The most outstanding instance is
Wilfredo Lam.
ALLEGORY, SYMBOL, IMAGINATION,
AND ABSTRACTION