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New Perspectives
Several of the Vanguardia artists mounted one-person shows in
the mid-1920s. But the Vanguardia really burst onto the
scene—and assaulted the staid conventions of Cuban academ-
ic art—with a major exhibition in Havana in 1927. Among the
artists represented at the Exposición de Arte Nuevo
(Exposition of New Art) were Víctor Manuel García
(1897–1969), Marcelo Pogolotti (1902–1988), and Antonio
Gattorno (1904–1980).
Victor Manuel would become known especially for his
head-and-shoulders and head-and-upper-body renderings of
women. His 1929 painting
La gitana tropical
(The Tropical
Gypsy), a sensual portrait of a
mixed-race woman, has been
described as a Mona Lisa of the
Americas. It’s considered one
of the premier works of the
Cuban Vanguardia.
Pogolotti, influenced by a
European art movement called
futurism, frequently incorpo-
rated industrial and mechani-
cal imagery in his work. But
whereas European futurists
celebrated technology and the
energy and speed of modern
life, Pogolotti had a darker
vision. His paintings and draw-
ings are inhabited by toiling,
La gitana tropical
, by Víctor Manuel
García.
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