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The Flowering of Identity: Tracing the History of Cuba Through the Visual Arts

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The Flowering of Identity: Tracing the History of Cuba Through the Visual Arts Social Education (), pp – © National Council for the Social Studies The Flowering of Identity: Tracing the History of Cuba through the Visual Arts Noel Smith Teaching history through the visual arts is one way of bringing the past into The most arresting works left behind the present. In Cuba, the visual arts and architecture have refl ected the country’s by the Ciboney peoples are pictographs, “fl owering of identity” through time, as a multi-ethnic population has grown to or cave paintings, found in caves all over recognize its own distinct history, values and attributes, and Cuban artists have Cuba. The shapes range from small very portrayed the island’s unique geography, fl ora and fauna. The arts have been a fi ne lines to circles, varied geometric mirror refl ecting Cuba’s history from earliest times to the present, and they now fi gures forming unknown motifs, and speak to its future. stylized representations of vegetable ele- ments, animals, and perhaps meteorologi- Pre-Conquest Arts peoples. Because archaeology was not a cal phenomena, such as hurricanes. Many In October 1492, Christopher Columbus developed discipline in Cuba until the of the rectilinear drawings of crosses and landed on the eastern shores of Cuba with twentieth century, and very little was arrows are situated at places where sol- three caravellas. He found a land whose known about the indigenous populations, stices and equinoxes can be observed, beauty astonished him, and a people their art has not had a great impact on and there are compass directions. and civilization that impressed him. On the fl owering of art in Cuba. The Taínos were far more numerous Christmas Day in 1492, Columbus noted There were two different populations than the Ciboneys at the time of conquest, in his day-to-day journal (kept in part in Cuba at the time of conquest, the pre- and are thought to have reached Cuba as a record for his funders, Ferdinand ceramic Ciboney and the pottery-using around the third century CE. There and Isabella of Spain): “I assure your Taíno. As prehistoric peoples, they left were about 100,000-150,000 at the time highnesses that in all the world there is no writing behind to tell us about them- of conquest, living in settlements in a no better people nor better country. They selves and their histories. However, the largely sedentary life that was ruled by love their neighbors as themselves, and artifacts they left behind tell a deeper a system of chiefs—caciques—and reli- have the sweetest talk in the world, and story, connecting them to a larger South gious leaders—beziques. There are many gentle, and always with a smile.” 1 American and Caribbean culture. While beautiful artifacts made of stone, wood, Shortly thereafter, Columbus sailed the origin of the Ciboney is unknown, the bone and ceramic left behind by the back to Spain. When he came back the Taíno are linked to the Arawaks, who Taínos in Cuba, that share traits found following year, he brought ships, colo- originate from South America and who in other areas populated by the Taínos nists, priests, and soldiers with armor, populated the Caribbean basin. in the Caribbean and South America. weapons and cannons. They planned to The earliest site of the Ciboney dates These include idols, or zemis, made of convert souls, capture slaves, build forti- from around 5,000 BCE. Burials have stone, fi gures that were used in commu- fi cations, and search for gold. Within 50 revealed beautifully abraded and polished nity rituals to infl uence, dictate or recall years, the pre-Columbian population of spheroliths, or balls, made of quartz and community events through magic and Cuba would be decimated due to disease, other hard rock—some found in children’s religion. Many of these were destroyed slavery and war. In present day Cuba, tombs—and ornaments and other objects by the Spanish. Also common are amu- there are no populations of indigenous that show no sign of use as tools. lets, ornaments, pendants and other S OCIAL E DUCATION 182 jewelry, figurines, axes, stools, and and living quarters upstairs. As Havana ists either straight from Spain or trained ceramic vessels. Motifs of animals—bats, became fortified, its Creole class grew in in Spain; thus Cuba’s art is based in the raptors, birds, turtles, monkeys and wealth and importance. They began cul- Baroque and moves slowly into Realism. frogs—are common, as is a mixing of tivating sugar, cattle and tobacco, as well However, as intellectuals like philosophy species: owl men, owl bats, and pelican as trading in general merchandise, and professor Friar Felix Varela and poet men. acquired hundreds of thousands of slaves José María Heredia and others began to from Africa. The lifestyle of the wealthy contemplate the idea of a Cuba indepen- Colonialism Creole class was supported by the labor dent from Spain in the first half of the The process of colonization of Cuba by of the slaves, who worked not only in the 19th century, artists paid more attention Spain began in the early 1500s. The colo- fields but also as house servants and in to Cuba’s people, history, and physical nizers brought art and architecture to industries such as ship building, architec- attributes. Artists painted Cuban land- Cuba whose styles reflect those in usage ture, and wood working. The distinctive scapes, portraying the unique geogra- at that time in Spain. The conquering architecture that grew up in the housing phy, flora and fauna. In genre paintings Spanish brought with them carpenters of the Creole class is built of native stone and lithographs, artists portrayed the and workmen from Andalucía, in south- and features patios and galleries, and trappings of the Creole class, with their ern Spain, only very recently liberated high ceilings, to combat the heat and great sugar factories, houses and slave from centuries of rule by the Moors. The humidity of the island. Stained glass labor; and they captured the boisterous earliest structures built by the Spanish windows provide beauty and protec- life of Havana’s working classes and free show distinct mozárabe, or Moorish, tion from the sun. Heavy furniture in the blacks. Artists documented the religions, influence, such as intricate ceilings and European rococo style was carved from culture and arts that the slaves brought other details in finely carved wood, rare woods such as mahogany, and the from Africa and still practiced. Unlike abstract and geometric decorative designs, furnishings, including lamps, tableware in the United States, slaves in Cuba were colorful tiles, and enclosed patios. and carpets, emulate those of Spanish allowed to stay together in ethnic groups. Havana was founded in 1515 and and French aristocracy. Elegant streets This gave birth to distinctly Afro-Cuban became a very important port. It was featured street level arcades, providing arts that had tremendous influence on vulnerable to pirates and invading for- shelter from the heat, rain and mud of future developments in Cuban culture eign fleets, and its prosperity as a port the thoroughfares. and politics. had an underside in the growth of taverns, The visual arts during the colonial gambling dens, brothels and crime that time at first took all their cues from Independence afflicted the city as it prospered. The early Spain. Religious imagery (17th–18th Cuba began to seek independence from architecture of Havana demonstrates for- centuries), portraiture (late 18th-early Spain in the 1850s in a series of wars tress-like buildings facing the sea, with 19th), landscape (mid-19th) and genre that culminated in Cuban independence businesses and horses kept downstairs (mid to late 19th) were created by art- in 1898. Spain had severely restricted The Transportable City, pictured above, formed part of an exhibit on the grounds of the University of South Florida during April-July 2005. It is a collection of 10 canvas and pipe tents, which constitutes the minimum core needed to construct an emergency city in response to disaster. The designs are inspired by real, iconic structures in Cuba; the city speaks to the condition of exile and feelings of nostalgia experienced by Cubans in the diaspora. (Images courtesy of USF Institute for Research in Art.) M AY /J UNE 2 0 0 7 183 Wifredo Lam (1902–1982) © ARS, NY The Jungle, 1943. Gouache on paper mounted on canvas, 7’ 10” × 7’ 6½”. Inter- American Fund. No permission available (140.1945) for internet display Digital Image ©The Museum of this image. of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA/Art Resource, NY (ART162742) Cuba’s access to the world. During Chinese (who were imported as laborers area. He was one of many Cuban artists Cuba’s post-Independence domination in the late 1800s). They saw how this who traveled to Europe in the 1920s in by the United States, the restrictions heritage had helped to form a national search of training and inspiration. In were dropped and the country opened identity, and were especially interested in Paris, he became a part of the Surrealist up. This was very liberating to Cuban the Afro-Cubans and in the guajiros, or movement, and a close friend of such students, intellectuals and artists. The Cuban peasants. The Vanguard Painters luminaries as André Breton and Pablo 1920s were a period of great social and were the first generation of artists who Picasso. They were interested in African political upheaval, characterized by the were able to study in France and the art as a way of revitalizing European art, birth of leftist and cultural movements United States, and they assimilated vari- and Lam painted in a Cubist style closely which were concerned with the condi- ous modernist styles in their search to associated with Picasso.
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