The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is presenting until June 8 2007 a rich exhibition dedicated to Cuban art, from 1895 to the present day. It is a great chance for Canadian art lovers to discover artists and works practically unknown, and so far the exhibition has proven to be popular and succesful. Cuban art is in many ways different from everything that has been presented here, so it's freshness, ideas and principles are something else.
Cuba was discovered in 1492 by Christopher Columbus and colonized by the Spaniards starting with 1511, but it would only gain it's independence at the beginning of the 20th century. Unfortunately for the artists, this country is better known for it's political turmoils and mostly for it's leader, Fidel Castro, but not for it's culture and visual arts. So this exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art is the first of this size and magnitude.
The curators have chosen to present the development of Cuban art since the second War of Independence to the present day, through about 350 works, ranging from painting and sculpture to photography, videos and installations, complemented with music and film. The visitors have the chance of discovering how national Cuban art emerged and developped over the decades, how the artists depicted in their works the changes and transformations of the society. From the first, hesitating years at the end of the 19th century to the first experiments and the avant-garde movememnts of the 30s and 40s, Cuban art later turned to Pop art and especially to propaganda, under the close guidance of the Fidel's regime. After 1980, although the governement kept a tight grip on individual liberties, the artists became much more critical, reexamining mainly the Soviet era and the historical events and situation of the island.
This special exhibition is a joint effort of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Havana. Also, several Cuban and American collectors have chosen to give a helping hand, lending several important works of art. Some of them come from the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Arizona State University Art Museum in Phoenix, as these two institutions have some of the largest Cuban art collections outside of Cuba.
May 2007
www.artline.ro
