Arts and Literature of Cuba

Marcelo Pogolotti, La palabra (The Word), 1975.

exploited, often faceless factory workers and Cuban peasants. In some canvases the figures of obviously wealthy people appear at the top. In others, soldiers are enacting or threaten- ing violence against workers or the poor. Gattorno is known particularly for his depictions of Cuban peasants. He invariably imbued his subjects with a profound dignity and quiet grace in the midst of their poverty. Gattorno’s use of bold colors and his primitivist style reminds some art critics of the work of the French painter Paul Gauguin. Many significant Vanguardia painters weren’t represented at the 1927 Exposición de Arte Nuevo. Perhaps the most notable is Wifredo Lam (1902–1982), acclaimed as one of Cuba’s greatest artists. While living in Paris, Lam became friends with the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, the leading figure in the cubist movement, and with the poet Andre Breton, the

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Arts and Literature of Cuba