Modern Art in 1940s Cuba: Havana’s Artists, Critics, and Exhibitions

The first book to explore the work of
avant-garde artists in Cuba during the nation’s years as a democracy

Providing the first comprehensive history
of modern Cuban art during the 1940s, this book contextualizes the artistic
practices, values, and contributions of the first and second generations of
avant-garde artists on the island within the framework of the nation’s only
democratic period.

Between 1940 and the 1952 coup by
Fulgencio Batista, Cuba experienced a democratic system of government as well
as a vibrant cultural renaissance, particularly in the visual arts. Art
historian and curator Alejandro Anreus uses interviews with key figures as well
as previously untapped archival materials from this period to explore
how Cuban artists collaborated to create distinct visual languages
that would become part of the canon of modern art in the Americas. In
this decade, Cuban art was showcased in major exhibitions both domestically and
internationally, including the landmark 1944 exhibition Modern Cuban
Painters at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

In addition to formal analysis of
specific artworks, Anreus provides social art history to situate these artists
and their work within their political and economic context. Anreus draws
attention to an influential but overlooked decade in Cuba’s political and
artistic history that reflects postwar hemispheric solidarity and cultural
exchange between democracies, highlighting the lasting impact of this time and
place on the global landscape of modern art.