CUBA. Art and History from 1868 to Today

This sumptuous survey of Cuban art reveals the development of a distinct national identity and serves as an illustrated narrative of the country’s colorful past and present.

Cuba’s artistic tradition is as rich as its history, though its treasures are rarely appreciated outside of the country. This catalog, accompanying an exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, gathers paintings, drawings and photography from Cuba done over the past century and a half. In addition to hundreds of works on paper, it features revealing photographs - some never before published – that record the country’s wars of independence and revolution, its utopian endeavours and social realities. Numerous essays explore aspects of the Cuban visual arts such as nineteenth-century landscapes and photojournalism, the burgeoning of the arte nuevo period, Wifredo Lam’s seminal African-inspired images, the creation of the famed collective mural, Castro-era poster art and the emergence of a new generation of artists. This book chronicles a unique culture of synthesis, born at the crossroads of Europe, Africa and the Americas, and whose art bears witness to important historical events of the past 150 years.