Page 58 - Studio International - October 1967

CUBA

commentary by
Edward Lucie-Smith

Salon de Mai at Havana, and 'Cuba'
at Ewan Phillips Gallery, London

The current exhibition at the EWAN PHILLIPS
GALLERY* is, as the catalogue claims, the 'first
London exhibition of contemporary Cuban art'.
As such, it comes at a significant moment. Cur-
rently the Cuban government is strenuously court-
ing the avant-garde. This would, perhaps, seem
extraordinary enough for any government. Where
a Communist state is concerned, it becomes
doubly surprising. In his big speech at Santiago de
Above, Exhibition pavilion, Havana
Cuba on July 26 of this year ( July 26 is the Cuban
Courtesy: Architectural Review
national holiday) Dr Castro had this to say: 'A
common ideal exists between the sculptor, the
Left Tomas Oliva Hierro 1
artist, the European poet and the forgers of this iron, 46 in. high
revolution, those who are writing glorious pages of
history, those who with their hands create the Below RaùI Martinez Repeticiones con bandera
wealth which goes to consolidate revolutionary oil on canvas, 50 x 58 in.
ideals—that is, the European intellectual and the
farmer from the Sierra Maestra or the canecutter Facing page Orfilio Urquiola Pantocrator
have an ideal in common. And it is one which we cement, iron, steel and bronze, 18 x 30 x 16 in.
revolutionaries can well understand. It is a passion
for justice, for the progress of humanity, a passion
for the dignity of man.' Listening to Castro as he
made this speech, sitting on the tribune reserved
for honoured guests, were a large number of Euro-
pean painters and sculptors who were visiting the
country for the Cuban showing of the Paris Salon
de Mai. They included such familiar names as those
of Cesar, Reybeyrolle, and Corneille. There were
also representatives of the younger Paris avant-
garde, such as Manoury and Lourdes Castro.
Many of the artists invited to Cuba were able
to make a very extensive stay there—up to
two or three months in some cases, with all ex-
penses paid. Facilities for working were put at their
disposal, the one condition being that whatever
they produced while in Cuba should remain be-
hind to swell the collections of the Museo National
in Havana. The artists concerned were left very
much to their own devices, and were free to use the
facilities put at their disposal in any way they
chose. The work they produced was shown as a
special adjunct to the Salon de Mai.
The exhibition itself was housed in an impressive
pavilion put up some four years ago for an archi-
tectural congress. It lies on either side of an
already existing office-block, and consists basic-
ally of a coffered concrete ceiling, carried on simple
concrete columns. The visitor enters on one side,
passes up a series of ramps and steps bordered by a