51 / 80
Painting and Sculpture 51
Key painters in the second-generation Vanguardia included
René Portocarrero (1912–1985), Mariano Rodríguez
(1912–1990), Mario Carreño (1913–1999), and Cundo
Bermúdez (1914–2008).
The cohort also included two important sculptors. Rita
Longa (1912–2000), known for the grace of her statues, was
masterful at creating a sense of movement. She worked pri-
marily with marble, bronze, and tile. Much of Longa’s most
celebrated work was commissioned for outdoor spaces. For
the
Fuente de las Antillas
(Fountain of the Antilles) in Las
Tunas, Longa created a bronze of a reclining woman in the
shape of the island of Cuba. In
the same city, she incorporated
a bronze of José Martí into a
sundial. Her modernist marble
statue
Forma, espacio y luz
(Form, Space and Light)
adorns the entrance to
Havana’s Museo Nacional de
Bellas
Artes
(National
Museum of Fine Arts). The
work of Alfredo Lozano
(1913–1997)
was
more
abstract. Lozano, who worked
primarily in wood and stone
but also experimented with
steel, tin, and terracotta, exe-
cuted a number of pieces for
churches in Havana.
Diablito
(Little Devil) by René Portocarrero
is on display in the National Museum of
Fine Arts in Havana.