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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
Arts and Literature of Cuba
48
Marcelo Pogolotti,
La
palabra
(The Word),
1975.