chicago art deco society havana

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A Meetingin Havana:

A Preview of the12th World Congress

on Art Deco

March2013

Havana Art Deco

Buenos Aires Art Deco

Puerto Rican Art Deco

Aracaju,Brazil Art Deco

Art DecoGraphics

CoolidgeCorner-Deco

Theatre

BacardiBuilding

SpeciaIssue


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CADS Board of Directors

Joe Loundy/PresidentConrad Miczko/Vice PresidentRobert Blanford/Secretary Mary Miller/Treasurer Ruth Dearborn Amy Keller Susan LevandKevin Palmer Glenn RogersBill Sandstrom

CADS Advisory BoardRichard GoismanKatherine Hamilton-SmithSeymour Persky Steve Starr

CADS MagazineSpecial World Congress IssueChief Editor: Geo Darder General Editorial Coordinator:Mónica PalenqueEditor: Kathleen Murphy Skolnik Copy Editor: Linda Levendusky Graphic Designer: Luis AlonsoTranslations: Vivian Figueredo,Mónica PalenqueEditorial Assistant: Joelle Louise Orr

Contributing Writers:

Geo Darder Gustavo López Alejandro AlonsoLuz MerinoMaría Elena Martín Adriana PiastrelliniMaría Victoria Zardoya Wilfredo RodríguezEduardo Luis Rodríguez Vivian Figueredo Vicki Gold LeviMario CoyulaPilar FernándezSusan Quinn

Juan GarcíaCamilo López Wolney UnesPepe MenéndezCamilo Valls

Front cover:

Designed by Luis Alonso fromoriginal sketch García Cabrera.

© Copyright Chicago Art Deco So-ciety 2013. All material is subject to copyrightand cannot be reproduced withoutprior written permission from thepublisher.The Chicago Art Deco Society(CADS) is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 tax exempt organizaton charteredin the State of Illinois in 1982 for thepurpose of education, perservationand fellowship.

Chicago Art Deco Society P.O. Box 1116Evanston, IL 60204-16312-280-9097 www.chicagoartdecosociety.com

President´s message

The Chicago Art Deco Society is pleased to collaborate with Habana Deco to bring you thisspecial World Congress supplement of the Chicago Art Deco Society Magazine. The articleshighlight many of the Art Deco treasures in Havana and other parts of Cuba included on the

itinerary for the 12th World Congress on Art Deco. CADS greatly appreciates Habana Deco’scommitment to the organization of what promises to be a unique and outstanding conference.

Joseph Loundy / President, Chicago Art Deco Society.

Social, a Pioneer 43in Cuban Graphic Arts

Eusebio Leal: 44Past, Present, and Future

The Coolidge Corner Theatre 45Brookline, Massachusetts

Casa de las Américas, 46a House for all!

Art Deco Catalog Buenos Aires 48Architecture

Sociedad Puertorriqueña 52de Arquitectura Histórica (SPAH)

Art Deco in the Ecclesiastical 55Architecture of Cuba

Locally Universal: 56

A Trend in the Art Deco Era

Aracajú, a hidden Art Deco 58treasure

Books summary 61

Deco Delights 63

The Festival’s House 71

Come to see, love and save 74

The Argüelles House: 78

A pioneer landmark ofCuban Art Deco architecture

Art Deco Architecture 80in Holguín

Santiago de Cuba 83at the Gates of Modernity

Spanish text 90

A gift to my country 3

A Meeting in Havana: 4A Preview of the 12th WorldCongress on Art Deco

Art Deco in Havana: 6An Historical and Cultural Context

The National Museum 9of Decorative Arts - Headquartersof Habana Deco

Art Deco in Education 10and Health Care

The forgotten glamour of 13García Cabrera

Cuban Art Deco Architecture: 20A Heritage of Undeniable Value

Art Deco in Havana Housing: 24Tropical Deco and Streamline

An Art Deco Square in Havana28Honoring a Renowned Cuban

A Pioneer of Modernity 30Leonardo Morales and the

Beginnings of Cuban Art Deco 32Cuba’s Cristóbal Colón Cemetery:An Open-Air Museum

Art Deco: Style, Trend, or Fashion? 33

The Champagnat School 36in Camagüey

Catalina Lasa and Juan Pedro Baró, 38a Havana Legend of Love anda Story of Two Art Deco Monuments

Discovering Art Deco in Havana: 40A Personal Revelation

INDEX

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I owe my happiness and love of country to a style that was introduced yearsbefore my creation. I was born in HavanaCuba in1963. Soon after my parentsleft to Miami before I could claim anychildhood memories. Recollection of myearly years in Miami was visits to see my

great grandmother Margarita, motherof Abuela Dora, on an island across thecauseway called Miami Beach. These

trips were always scary for me becauseI had to stay in the car while my parents

went in for a quick visit. Waiting in thecar I would observe the old people sittingin rocking chairs on porches of funny

buildings with odd shapes and neon lights.This would be my first introduction to Art Deco. Little did I know then it wouldbecome such a big part of my life.

I spent my teens working at MiamiBeach hotels, sunbathing during workbreaks and lunches at David’s Café andPuerto Sagua. I fell deeply in love for

the streamline style and knew somedaySouth Beach would be home. I wasfortunate to be part of the renaissanceof SoBe thanks to Barbara Capitman.Ienjoyed Art Deco weekends with neverending openings and inaugurations ofrenovated deco landmarks. South Beach

Art Deco District became the new

A gift to my country By: Geo Darder

American playground and home to fashionmodels, Miami Vice, Versace and me.

I met Kathy Hausman who introduced me to the Deco mecca of the world, NYC, with its skyscrapers Rockefeller, Chryslerand Empire Buildings. I participated in ArtDeco lectures, exhibits and congresses.I experienced a new understanding andmonumental admiration to the deco style.

But it is was not until my first return visit to my native Island nation at the age30 that I would learn of my passion formy country and Habana Deco. This trip

ignited a new passion to reconnect withmy Cuban family, culture and heritage.Habana Deco awareness became mymission: to let the world know of the true

treasures my island held.

In the year 2000 the first conference topromote the Deco heritage took place inCuba and the National Union of Cuban

Writers and Artists (UNEAC) servedas the meeting venue. Thanks to thecollaboration of Dr. Graziela Pogolotti andarchitect Juan Garcia.

From that moment on I was committed to help build a bridge of betterunderstanding by organizing groups of

collectors, architects and historians from the United States interested in visiting this wonderful city. This began a 13-yearquest to reach the dream of internationalrecognition of this unique Art Decoheritage. Even though a tough labor, most

of the time anonymous. I suffered myfamily’s incomprehension and some of myfriend’s rejection, while gaining supportof others.

2001 was the next step forward toward my dream when a small Cubandelegation, headed by architect JuanGarcia and Patricia Semidey assisted

the Art Deco World Congress held inOklahoma. During this meeting theacademic exchanges strengthened andmade possible in 2003, the second Cuba/US encounter. Habana Deco Conference

was held at the National Museum ofDecorative Arts, which lead to theforming of Habana Deco Group in 2009.

Many conferences followed and it was true progress when deco societiesacknowledged and welcomed Latin

American countries like Brazil, Argentinaand Uruguay. This lead to the newcreation of Deco groups for ICADSand an approval to Rio de Janiero, Brazilas the first Latin American country

to host a World Congress. Now theCaribbean Island Nation of Cuba willfinally have the opportunity to share

with the world its Art Deco heritage with this 12th ICADS Congress, its 250international participants and 15 countriesin attendance. Thank you to so many

that made this World Congress a reality.This gathering is not just a congress it is acelebration!

I am positive that this Congress will serveas a stage to create restoration projectsand resurgence to the interest of thecultural heritage of Cuba for the world.I just turned 50 and my commitment to

this Island, which I never gave up, remainsintact. My true cause transcends gods andborders, governments and laws, familyand friends; because no matter where Iam, I am also Cuba.

I dedicate this issue to my mother MaríaTeresa Darder López who taught me the

true essence of conviction and the SacredMother of all Cubans, La Caridad delCobre, for guiding me back to my home.■

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Once again, Art Deco scholars anddevotees will meet in an exciting venuefor the biennial World Congress on ArtDeco. The location for the 12 th WorldCongress, scheduled to take place March14 through 21, 2013, is Havana, Cuba.

By: Lic. Gustavo López GonzálezPictures: Arch. Félix Eduardo Borges Ibáñez

A Meeting in Havana: A Preview of the 12th WorldCongress on Art Deco

Official headquarters of the Congress willbe the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, a historicinstitution with a more than eighty-year

tradition of hosting visitors to Havana.Since 1930, the Nacional has welcomedsuch diverse guests as the Duke of

Windsor, film stars Ava Gardner and FrankSinatra, crime boss Santo Trafficante,singer Nat King Cole, and model NaomiCampbell.

The program designed by the CongressOrganizing Committee features bothlectures and visits to Havana’s ArtDeco buildings and monuments. Thepresentations will take place at HotelNacional de Cuba with special lecturesheld at Casa de Las Americas, a Cubancultural institution for more than half acentury and one of the most attractive

Art Deco buildings in the city. Papers willexamine such topics as the characteristicsof Art Deco in Havana and other Cubancities; the societal influence of Art Decoand its adaptation to different social

levels; the typology of Havana cinemasand theaters; the magnificent Art Decoresidences in the neighborhoods of

Vedado and Miramar; and Cuban graphicarts and films of the Art Deco period.

Other presentations will examine theimpact of Art Deco worldwide. BarbaraBillauer Bailey of the Washington ArtDeco Society will address Art Deco inIsrael; Paula Duffy Baker of the Chicago

Art Deco Society will explore TheConnections between Chicago and Latin

American Muralists; and Peter Sheridanof Australia will speak on Radio, anUnacknowledged Art Deco Icon. Notedspeakers Alistar Duncan, Hermes Mallea,Fabio Grementieri, Wolney Unes andMitzi Mogul will be in attending. Tours in Havana will include such buildingsas the Bacardí, Havana’s first skyscraperand the most significant example of Cuban

Art Deco, and important residences,such as the home of Catalina Lasa and

Juan Pedro Baró, the Francisco Argüelles

house, Cuba’s first Art Deco building, and the Manuel López Chávez house. Visits to Art Deco cinemas and theaters—the America, Arenal, Fausto, and Ludgardita; Art Deco hospitals, including theMaternidad Obrera and América Arias;monuments such as the superb obeliskhonoring Dr. Carlos J. Finlay, in Marianao;and the amazing marble, stone, and

Lobby of the López Serrano Building in Vedado.

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bronze mausoleums of the Cementeriode Colón.

Delegates will also participate inreceptions, dinners, luncheons, andsocial events at venues such as the HotelNacional, Havana Club, the DuPonthouse in Varadero beach and will enjoya performance by the Ballet Nacionalde Cuba, led by Alicia Alonso as wellas visits to museums and exhibitions inHavana.

The post-Congress tours (March 21 to27) will explore other Cuban cities tolearn about the Art Deco and colonialarchitecture in the central and easternareas of the island. In historic Trinidad,

participants will travel to the beautifulTopes de Collantes nature reserve to

visit the Art Deco sanatorium built in themountains in the 1940s. In Santiago, they

will walk the central street of Enramadaand visit the sanctuary of the Virgen de laCaridad del Cobre, Cuba’s patron saint,

with its magnificent view of the landscapeof the eastern region.

The opportunity to learn more about ArtDeco in Cuba and other parts of the worldfrom an international panel of specialists,combined with visits to areas of Cubaknown for their beauty, architecture,culture, and history, promises to make

the 12 th World Congress of Art Deco amemorable experience.■

Exterior view of the López Serrano Building.

Exterior view of Maternidad Obrera Hospital.

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This article is excerpted from the book Deco in Old Havana to be published by BoloñaPublishing House, Office of the Historian of the City.

Current research based on geographic, temporal, and stylistic considerationssuggests that Art Deco in Old Havanaarose within two clearly defined poles.The Bacardí Building (1930), an Art Decojewel in Monserrate Street at the former

boundary of the defensive wall, marks thefirst; the Navy Building (1951) at 102 SanPedro Street, the second. Stylistically, aprofusion of ornament associated with the

variant known as “Zigzag” distinguishes the Bacardi, while the Navy Buildingrepresents the simpler, more functional“nautical” variant. Separated by twenty

years, the two buildings demonstrate Art Deco’s longevity among those whofinanced such projects and, of course, thearchitects.

The early phase of Art Deco in Cuba,manifested by the Bacardí Building,developed during the first term (1925-1929) of General Gerardo Machado,

who initially served as president but laterbecame a sanguinary dictator reluctant

to abandon power and determined to beelected. The later pole, represented by

the Navy Building, occurred during thefinal term of the military leader FulgencioBatista, who regained control of thecountry through a 1952 coup d’état. The

years between the construction of these

two landmark buildings was markedby fraudulent elections and politiciansin the magistrate who were totallyuninterested in solving the great needsof the nation. Two economic crises, two

world wars, the nationalist revolution of1933 and the frustrations it precipitated,adoption of the Second Constitution of

the Republic, interventions by the United

By: Lic. Alejandro G. Alonso

Art Deco in Havana: An Historical and CulturalContext

States government, and the widespreadinfluence of North American culture intonational life also characterized this period.

In spite of this turbulence, Cuba readilyaccepted Art Deco. The island’sfundamental cosmopolitan nature,

Interior lobby of Bacardí building.

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combined with its dynamic racial

mixture and acknowledged power ofassimilation, made it fertile ground for the new. Furthermore, Art Deco arrivedin Cuba amidst a wave of nationalism

that impacted all cultural spheres—literature, music, and the arts. The mostdistinguished representative of thisnationalistic fervor was Nicolás Guillén,a mulatto poet whose universal verse

was capable of conveying the rhythmof son, which later evolved into “salsa.”This powerful nationalistic movementaspired to international understandabilityand authenticity. Its principles were

exemplified by Grupo Minorista, a socialmovement led not by a party but createdand supported by the best intellectuals inall fields. This group’s role was extremelyinfluential from the start.

Any analysis of the role of publications in thedissemination of new modes of expressionmust also include the magazine Social.Grupo Minorista’s members were friends

of the magazine and, even more important,

collaborators in the task of enlightening abourgeoisie that was beginning to showentrepreneurial capacity.

A representative example is AlejoCarpentier, one of the best Spanish-language writers of the twentieth century,as well as a musicologist and essayist.

Writing from Paris under the pseudonym“Jacqueline,” Carpentier would sendarticles on all aspects of avant-gardeculture, from the music of Stravinsky

to the painting of Picasso and Parisianfashions, considered an artistic discipline

itself. The articles appeared in the pages ofSocial, which was founded and directed byConrado Walter Massaguer, a member ofGrupo Minorista. The magazine addressed

topics such as industrial development,feminism, and racial origins as elements ofa national identity, all with the magazine’s

worldly view. Such articles appeared sideby side with reviews of a dance in historicalcostumes or stories about the wedding

of the tycoon Serra’sdaughter or the splendidhouse of Catalina Lasa,a woman who wouldbecome a living legendand who commissioned

the best Art Deco interiorin Havana in 1927. That

year is fundamental forCuban art. It marked

the construction of thefirst Art Deco buildingsin the country and theemergence of Cuban“modern” visual artists,prefigured in the work of

the designers of art andentertainment magazinessuch as Carteles andBohemia.

The great examples of Art Deco architectureremaining in Cuba canbe traced to varioussources. Some of thefirst buildings thatappeared in the earlyphase of the style were

the result of privateinitiatives. However, asearly as 1930, Govantesand Cabarrocas designed

two of the best hospital facilities in

the country, thanks to the actions ofGerardo Machado (although thoseprojects as well as the great work of

the Central Road correspond to his first term as constitutional president). Like their European fascist counterparts, theCuban dictators favored the Art Deco

variant known as Modern Monumental, giving rise to a number of hospitals,squares, homes for the elderly, barracks,and civic institutions, including structuresbuilt under the mandate of other defacto authoritarians such as Batista. Thisis no coincidence; the colossal scale

of the Modern Monumental style wellmatches the psychology of such politicalfigures.

These important events, significanthistorical occurrences, and astonishing art

works constitute a momentous era forCuba, which treasures the legacy of itsnational interpretation of Art Deco like aradiant jewel.■

Navy building on Avenue of Port of Havana.

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A beautiful French-inspired mansion in the Vedado neighborhood of Havana,designed in 1927 by French architectsPaul-Jean-Emile Viard and MarcelDastugue, houses the National Museum ofDecorative Arts, open to the public since1964. This unique building is especially

noted for the quality of the materialsused in its construction, its magnificentambiance, and one of its former owners,María Luisa Gómez Mena, Countess ofRevilla de Camargo. This aristocratic

woman commissioned the Maison Jansenof Paris to create the sumptuous interiors.Today, visitors to the museum can viewmany of those valuable furnishings andoriginal decorative features, including thecountess’ splendid Art Deco bathroom

with Italian marble tiles and light fixturesdesigned in Paris by Marius-Ernest Sabino.

For more than a year, this importantCuban cultural institution has been theheadquarters of Habana Deco and the siteof the group’s meetings and social events.During the 12 th World Congress on ArtDeco, participants will visit the museum

to view the collection and will enjoy aluncheon there as well.■

By: Gustavo López

The NationalMuseum of Decorative

Arts - Headquartersof Habana Deco

Ceiling lamp of Museum of Decorative Arts

(countess residency).

Museum of Decorative Arts.

Main bathroom of the countess residency.The countess in the dining room of her residency.

María Luisa Gómez Mena.

Countess Revilla of Camargo.

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Improvements in education and healthcare were among the objectives of

government initiatives undertaken in the1930s and 1940s to modernize Cuba.These years corresponded with the peakpopularity of Art Deco and its varioushybrid expressions in Cuban architecture.It is therefore not unexpected that manyof the government-sponsored schools andhospitals established during these decades

were designed in the Art Deco style. Many

of these institutions were constructedunder the auspices of the Health TechnicalService, the National Corporation ofSocial Work, the National Council forTuberculosis, and the Civil MilitaryInstitutes system, all created in 1936.

The first Civil Military Institute openedin Ceiba del Agua near Havana in 1936.The design of the building with its clean

volumes and restrained ornamentation isderived from the Streamline variant of ArtDeco and provides a visual interpretation

of the modernity inherent in its purpose.The Aballí Hospital, a sanatorium forchildren completed in 1944, was a projectof the National Council for Tuberculosis.Located on the outskirts of Havana, theaerodynamic lines of the structure exemplify

the Streamline style fashionable at the time.

Another facility for the care of patients with tuberculosis was the Hospital Ambrosio Grillo in the Eastern province ofSantiago de Cuba. Its light, aerodynamicdesign, which resembles a bird,incorporates elements of tropical Deco.

Hospital Topes de Collantes is locatedin a nature reserve in the EscambrayMountains in central Cuba. Construction of

this massive structure with its monumentalentrance, rounded corners, and interiorcourtyards began in the 1940s, although it

was not completed until the mid-1950s.

By: Luz Merino

Art Deco in Educationand Health Care

In addition to large hospitals, smallerclinics connected with the NationalCorporation of Social Work and theHealth Technical Service were alsoestablished. The standardized designscombine a vertical emphasis with clean

volumes that harmonize with the desirefor modernity.

The Art Deco Maternidad ObreraHospital occupies land in Marianao that

was once part of the Columbia MilitaryCamp. Designed by Emilio de Soto andcompleted in 1939, the hospital has acurvilinear facade that emphasizes theportico, which is capped by a sculpture ofMother and Child.

The Maternidad Obrera Hospital isadjacent to Fourth of September Square,now known as Finlay Square, designedby José Pérez Benitoa and completed

Carteles Magazine Cover from 1934.

Lux Magazine Cover from 1942.

Interior photo page from Carteles Magazine.

Carteles Magazine Cover from 1935.

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in 1940. The buildings surrounding thesquare’s obelisk were connected with

the government programs of the time.Three were schools and the fourth was aresidence for the elderly.

Also adjacent to Finlay Square is JoséPérez Benitoa’s Military Hospital. Larger

than the other buildings in the square, the hospital is topped with a four-story tower that mirrors the central obelisk.Five narrative murals by Enrique García

Cabrera relating the history of medicinehighlight the hospital interior.

The hospitals and schools constructedin Cuba during the 1930s and 1940s areemblematic of both the government’scommitment to modernization and themodern aesthetic that characterized thearchitecture of this time.■

Ad for the Civic-Military Schools.

Picture of the Marti's Flower Condecoration.


Interior photo page from Carteles

Magazine.

Interior photo page from Carteles

Magazine.


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Enrique García Cabrera (Havana, 1893-1949) remains today a relatively unknownCuban artist. Although a painting and

two of his magnificent illustrations havebeen on view at the National Museumof Fine Arts since 2002, he has receivedlittle mention, and his work has seldombeen exhibited or reviewed in recent

decades. The nonexistence of a museumdedicated to the history of Cuban graphicdesign accentuates the injustice of our

time against the generation and trends of the first three decades of the twentiethcentury. García Cabrera was a verydistinguished member of that generation.

As a young boy, he had alreadydemonstrated talent at charcoal andpastel drawing and watercolor painting.He honed this talent during his formalartistic training, first at the Academyof Arts of San Alejandro (Havana) andlater in Rome and Paris. He attractedattention at a very young age when,after returning from Europe, he receivedseveral awards in public commercial

poster contests. For around forty years,he worked simultaneously as a painterand commercial artist. When he died, heleft an unfinished canvas, which became

the focus of a posthumous exhibitionorganized the following year as anhomage to him. That last work was hisfarewell statement, and, unfortunately,he remained associated with it for a long

time. His lack of acceptance among theavant-garde artists casts a shadow over

the greatness of his other work, namely,his graphic illustrations, which he himselfconsidered minor. His death interrupteda journey that might have been expected

to make major contributions to Cuban graphics, although he instilled a feeling ofadmiration among many.

With time and the advent of photography, which became the predominant mode of graphic communication, García Cabrera’s validity was lost and even questioned.In the book Diez Dibujantes Cubanos.

Apuntes sobre la Ilustración Gráfica (Ten

Cuban Draftsmen. Notes on Graphic

Illustration) by Luis Alonso Fajardo,published in 1958, the powerful influence

Cover of Universal magazine, 1920.

Covers of Bohemia magazine.

The forgottenglamour of

García CabreraBy: Pepe Menéndez

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he had over a wide group of artists wasbranded disproportionate and retardative.

Although acknowledging the artist’smasterful technique, the author stated,“García’s advertisements, underlined byhis affectation, never reached the categoryof seriously studied advertisements. On

the contrary, there was so much respectfor the most important standards, itexcelled so much in pure art, that the art

made the advertisement disappear, alwaysdegenerating into a painting.”

This is a curious point of view, moreso if we consider that García Cabrerahimself regarded painting and illustrationas two completely different art forms.It is possible that the motive resides in

the period and medium in which it was

developed, and the way in which theartists of those years were later viewed.

Along with García Cabrera, other graphicartists of his time, such as Jaime Valls,Rafael Blanco, and Conrado Massaguer,have not been systemically studied,nor have they received the honor theydeserve.

With the upsurge of the more progressive

ideas in art that resulted from the triumph of the Cuban revolution in1959 and the necessary rehabilitationof the former urges of the avant-garde,

the figure of Enrique García Cabreraentered into oblivion. Furthermore, thesocial prominence of publicity ceased.

Academicism was negated. The culturalavant-garde and the political avant-garde

left no opportunity to lookback critically, so that otherperdurable values could beidentified in the past, values

that today reveal themselves to us as solidly interwoven

in the national identity.Illustration, caricature,commercial graphics, whichare the seeds of presentCuban graphic design, canand should be recognized asour cultural heritage.

García Cabrera diedbelieving he would beremembered as a greatpainter, when in reality he

was a wonderful illustrator.He pioneered education

in the decorative arts inCuba, yet the Academy San Alejandro, where he taughtfor more than two decades,has practically no memoryof him. A man ahead ofhis time, he marveled thereaders of Havana magazines

with the modernity of hisEuropean-inspired line,

the synthesis of forms, andhis novel compositions.Enrique García Cabrera isa fascinating figure, “one

of the most surprisingdraftsmen ever producedin America,” according topainter Armando Maribona;

a talent wasted in the insignificant graphic work, as stated by Jorge Mañach. Thepejorative vision that some artistic sectorshad of graphic illustration surfaced at

the 1926 Hall of Painting, as revealedby his comment on García Cabrera’sparticipation: “I say it is a surprisingcanvas because we did not expect suchan effort from García Cabrera. And notbecause we disregard his ample aptitude,

but because the man is so much involvedin his mercantile occupations—in thoseimmaculate drawings delightedly truthful

that the pages of the newspapers fill with advertisements—that we could notsuspect such a surprise. The Press is acanvas of considerable dimensions. Thefact that the artist painted it in a few days,according to what he told us, only goes

"Madness", illustration.

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to show the powerful talent of GarcíaCabrera. It is truly sad that such a talentbe wasted in the struggle for the dailybread.” Such struggle yielded lucrative dividends,even bigger than those obtained frompainting. García Cabrera had thesatisfaction of commanding very highprices for his collaborations, to apply laterselflessly in the project of some magazine.His work was in great demand, to theextent that a dispute for his talent almostcaused a commercial war between two of

the largest department stores in Havana.His designs were valued as the key tosuccess for products, stores, or welfarecampaigns.

He worked indefatigably designingposters, brochures, brands, publicityadvertisements, and calendars. Heillustrated stories and poems in periodicals

Panflet “Tuberculosis”.

Label “Pelipeina”

Covers of “La Semana” magazine.

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and executed political caricatures. Hecontributed to nearly twenty magazines,and served as art director of several of

them. For Bohemia alone, he createdover 150 covers between 1935 and 1939.He developed all graphic support for anational anti-tuberculosis campaign. He

was art director for the famous storesFin de Siglo and El Encanto. He became

very popular for his drawings of women,always voluptuous, many times incunning scenes. As a journalist of his timedescribed them, “García Cabrera createda type of Havana woman; not that he

copied her submissively in his drawings;but little by little the Havana woman wasstylized, she became his drawings. In thesame way that the Madrid girls drawnby Ribas –tight skirt, silk stockings, smallfeet—started to resemble those of the

great Galician draftsman, who can besaid is the Spanish García Cabrera, asof García Cabrera we could say is the

Cuban Federico Ribas […]. And the truthis that no one drew them as he did. Hisartist sensuality caressed with the pencil

the fruit lips, the eyes of humid blackness, the magnolia breast, and above all thesuccumbing gesture, as the siesta languorof who is listening to the faraway [streetseller’s] cry that tastes like mango andcoconut ice cream.”

Some of his creations can be enjoyed today in Havana’s public spaces andshould not be missed. The remarkablereliefs depicting Cuban history on the

huge doors of the National Capitolbuilding are based on drawings by GarcíaCabrera. Another example, perhaps

the most outstanding because of itsexpressiveness and finish, is the clock in

the López Serrano building, where thepassion of the time for movement andspeed becomes visible within a polished

Art Deco style.

Advertising "Fin de Siglo" store.

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Advertising “MIchel”.

As a teacher, García Cabrera achieveda well-earned prestigious reputation,as shown by the quality and number ofhis students, to whom, according to the

testimony of Enrique Valderrama, “he gave paid work in his private workshop,applying a modern teaching of out-of-school orientation. His designs with chalkon the classroom blackboards had thebeauty and originality of all his work; and

though lost because of their teachingnature, they were collected in studynotebooks made by the students; thusleaving, in watercolor paintings and pendrawings, a testimony of his faculties formodern teaching.”

If on the one hand, García Cabrera was highly respected by his colleagues,

students, and clients, on the other, hishistoric shortsightedness gained himpowerful adversaries, particularly afterhis unwise expression of his opinionsregarding European avant-garde art.

A change had taken place in him. Thefascination of his youthful years in Parisand Rome, his restless searches forforms in the magazine illustrations during

the teens and 1920s progressively gave way to an accommodating attitude, alsoreflected by the commercial success heachieved. He was unable to understand

the direction that avant-garde painting was taking. But most of all, he was unable to understand that his graphic workundoubtedly constituted the avant-gardein Cuba, because Cuban editorial andpublicity illustration at the beginning of

Cover of Bohemia magazine.

Logo CMCD.

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the century was ahead of the avant-gardein painting and prefigured, at least in

terms of form, a new language.

In light of the seemingly endless debate on the differences and similarities between the plastic arts and graphic design, the work of Enrique García Cabrera is ofspecial interest. He was an enthusiast ofboth expressions of the visual. His work,in the words of Jorge Bermúdez, “will be

torn between the conflict that provokesin an artist the mass work made by themachine and the unique and original workof ‘pure’ art. Paradoxically, all that EnriqueGarcía Cabrera wanted to be as a painter,

he attained only in the communication graphics. If we compare just one of hisoil paintings with one of his illustrationsfor publicity, the dilemma becomesquite clear. With the first way of artisticcreation he wanted to be . . . With thesecond he was, is, and will always be oneof the pioneers of modern graphic designin Cuba.”■

Interior views of García Cabrera house.

Exterior detail of García Cabrera house.

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Art Deco occupies a preeminent position within the context of twentieth centuryCuban architecture. The influence of

this decorative trend, which successfullyintegrated architecture, interior design,

visual arts, and graphic and industrialdesign, was manifested in a wide varietyof programs throughout the island.

The rule of the twice-elected presidentof the Republic of Cuba, General GerardoMachado (1925-1933), was one of theperiods of the greatest flowering of

Art Deco in Cuban architecture andurbanism. This era was marked by aspecial interest in modernizing Havanaand placing it in a privileged positionrelative to its American neighbors.Despite political support for the aestheticof the famed Ècole des Beaux-Arts inParis, a new style, initially labeled Modernbut known today as Art Deco, found favor

in Cuba at this time. Art Deco symbolizedmodernity and spread rapidly throughout

the country.

Student travel abroad, visits of foreignartists and designers, and reports offashion trends and international exhibitionsin specialized journals and magazinescirculating on the island influenced the

taste of Cuban professionals of the time.The 1925 Exposition Internationaledes Arts Décoratifs et IndustrielsModernes in Paris, the 1928 Exposition of

Czechoslovakian Culture in Brno, and the1931 Salon des Artistes Décorateurs inParis were among the events covered inpopular publications of the day. Extensivereviews, accompanied by photographs,documented European modern aestheticsand updated professionals on the formaland conceptual details of the latest design

trends.

By: María Elena Martín Zequeira

Cuban Art Deco Architecture: A Heritage of Undeniable Value

Early Art Deco works in Havana, suchas the house of Francisco Argüelles inMiramar (1927) (Pic.1); the restaurantand cafeteria at 5th Avenida and 34, alsoin Miramar (1927, demolished in 1999);and the automobile service station atMalecón and Escobar (1928) illustrate

the application of the avant-garde todiverse building types. Art Deco provedappropriate for all types of structures,from public, industrial and recreational

buildings to private residences andapartment houses. It was used in thedesign of public open-air spaces and leftits imprint on monuments, sculptures, andother elements of the urban landscape(Pic.2) still extant in various parts of thecountry. Also noteworthy are the great

variety and large number of tombs andmausoleums in Cuban cemeteries that

Pic. 1. Detail of the Entrance of the Argüelles House.

Pic. 2. Monument to Juan Carlos Finlay

in Marianao.

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incorporated the Art Deco aesthetic. Themausoleums of the celebrated CatalinaLasa in the Cristóbal Colón cemetery inHavana (Pic.3) and the National hero JoséMartí in the Santa Ifigenia cemetery inSantiago de Cuba (Pic.4) are just two of

the most significant examples.

Although Art Deco became immensely

popular in Cuba, the designers of manyof the buildings representative of thecountry’s economic and political statusdid not subscribe to this new aesthetic.Monumental works such as the NationalCapitol or Capitolio, the Asturian Center,and the Cuban Telephone Company,although constructed during the peakpopularity of Art Deco in the late 1920s

and early 1930s, reflect the eclecticism that was regarded as a symbol of thepolitical, social, and economic powerepitomized by these institutions.The most distinguished examples ofeclecticism in residential architecture

were also completed during this time.

Theaters, cinemas, and department stores,

however, passionately embraced themodern and carefree lines of Art Deco.Outstanding examples include the FaustoTheater, the Arenal movie house, and the

Almacenes Ultra department store, all inHavana (Pic.5). Art Deco was also a popularstyle for houses and apartment buildings forboth the middle class and those of moremodest means throughout Cuba. (Pic.6)

The rapid and extensive proliferation of this style is indicative of one of the mostdistinctive characteristics of Art Deco inCuba, namely, its popularity. Formally,it was expressed by great simplicity,

while still maintaining elegance andrefinement. Art Deco was frequentlypreferred for the decoration of facadesand was also expressed in the elements

Pic. 3. Catalina Lasa tomb in Havana Cemetery Cristobal Colón.

Pic. 4. José Martí tomb in Santiago de Cuba.

Pic. 5. Fausto Theater in Havana Paseo del Prado.

Pic. 6. Apartment building for middle income

families in Centro Habana.

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of composition, as manifested by the geometrization of forms and the use of tropical images (Pic.7); the stylization ofarchitectonic details and elements (Pic.8);pure volumes, both on the exterior andin the interior (Pic.9); a trend toward

verticality (Pic.10); the integration ofpolished finishes with bright particlesembedded in plaster; and the use of large

glass panels allowing light to pass into theinterior. (Pic.11)

Unfortunately, another characteristiccommon to almost all Art Deco buildingsin Cuba is their unfortunate state ofpreservation. Some important Art Decostructures have been lost forever andothers no less significant show a highdegree of deterioration, with respect toboth the structure and the decorativedetails. The loss of their multicoloredfloors, decorative ceilings and lightfixtures, and exquisite Art Deco façade

ornamentation is a testimony to thecomplete apathy and abandonment

to which these buildings have beensubjected.

The collection of Art Deco buildingsconstructed in Cuba from the final

years of the 1920s through the 1940srepresents a heritage of undeniable value.These structures must be preserved forfuture generations.■

Pic. 7. Use of tropical images in design.

Pic. 8. Stylized architectural elements.

Pic. 9. Pure volumes in facades.

Pic. 10. Verticality tendency.

Pic. 11. Glass panels permit natural illumination in the interiors..

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For some time, Art Deco had no precisedefinition, due largely to the numerousand sometimes contradictory influences

that contributed to its emergence—ArtNouveau, pre-Hispanic and Easterncultures, the “isms” of European avant-

garde artistic movements, and Diaghilev’sBallets Russes, among others. Despite thisdiversity of cultural antecedents, Art Deco

acquired distinctive features that gave the style its own personality. The result was a complex decorative system thatintegrated many facets of design and came

to characterize and symbolize an era.

As a transitory trend, Art Deco establisheda bridge between eclecticism (alreadyempty of vitality) and the explosiveradicalism of the European artistic avant-

gardes. Its expression differed among the various regions, areas, or cities where itdeveloped. Art Deco in London is notlike Art Deco in Paris, nor in New York,

California, Oklahoma, or Florida.Modernism, the term Art Deco wasknown by in Cuba in its time, reachedHavana via various channels, includingspecialized publications, study in theUnited States, architecture curriculumsbased on North American models,movies, music, travel, and fashion.

Without aspiring to the radical dynamismof the European avant-gardes, it offereda modern alternative to academicism andcontributed to the demise of the then-dominant eclecticism.

Writing in 1950, architect Joaquín Weissdescribed the significance of the 1925Exposition Internationale des ArtsDécoratifs et Industriels Modernes for thedevelopment of Art Deco in Cuba:

Stylistically this period (1930-1940) was nurtured to a great extent by theDecorative Arts Exposition held in Paris

By: Pilar Fernández Prieto

Art Deco in HavanaHousing: Tropical Deco andStreamline

in 1925, which tried to update the Frenchin architectural matters, achieving onlya conservative result. However, . . . thenew French variant of architectural trends

was able to be introduced in Americancountries that, like ours, were struggling

to free themselves from the clutches ofeclecticism.

Tropical Deco, a name Americanscholar Laura Cerwinsky proposed,had an important influence on Cubanarchitecture. The term refers to a specificphase in the development of the styleexpressed in hotels, movie theaters,restaurants, and houses in Miami Beachfrom the 1930s until the 1940s. This

variation is especially prevalent in thearea known as the Art Deco HistoricDistrict in South Miami. Tropical Decois an adaptation of Northern models.

Its combination of horizontal lines andfantasy infuses buildings with a sense ofdelight that distinguishes them from theindustrial Deco of more urban areas.

Tropical Deco incorporates the flora

and fauna of the region in its buildingdecoration, creating an Art Deco variant

that differs from both the sophisticatedNew York and the prolific Hollywood

varieties. The taste for horizontal and vertical lines and pastel colors such as sea green, light blue, dusty pink, and bright yellow, enrich and add complexity to the design. The distinct visual effect thatresults exudes a sense of rest, simplicity,and happiness. The horizontality, panels

with geometric ornaments, simple geometric volumes, and pastel colors ofTropical Deco appeal particularly to a

public accustomed to the climate, light,sea, and environment of Havana.

Transatlantic ships, airplanes, trains,and automobiles provided models andmotifs for another variation of Art Deco,commonly known as Streamline Moderne.This variant is characterized by curvilinearparallel lines, metallic elements, roundedcorners, circular windows, chromerailings, and white walls, a repertoire

that suggests speed, progress, and theaesthetics of the machine.The new variant was more

closely linked to the Worldof Tomorrow showcased at the 1939 New York World’sFair than with the famous1925 Paris exposition.

Single-family homes andapartment buildings inHavana reflect the gradualchange from a verticalemphasis, characteristic ofskyscrapers, such as theLópez Serrano building,

to a horizontal emphasis

seen in the Cantera,Solimar, and Santeiroapartment buildings. ArtDeco and StreamlineModerne convergein the multifunctional

America building, despite the prevalence of theStreamline style in Havanaduring this period. Deco

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also intermingled with the remnantsof the neoclassical style and began toharmonize with Havana’s first expressionsof the international style.

In his paper “Of New Architecture,”published in April 1932 in the journal

Arquitectura y Artes Decorativas, architect Juan E. O’Bourke analyzed a new buildingin Vedado designed by architect and cityplanner Pedro Martínez Inclán:

Horizontality, sensation of calmnessand dignity; continuous side-by-side

balconies with rails that evoke thoseof ships; projecting terraces, hardlysupported in their base with octagonalcolumns, large broad windows. A very20 th century building. The most similar

to the worksof Wright, Le Corbusier,Gropius.

The architectural firm Maruri/Weisscreated a boat-like design for theMatanzas Tennis Club, which Weissexplained in the June 1932 issue of

Arquitectura y Artes Decorativas:

What was required there was not a Versailles palace but a machine . . .a social entertainment and sportsmachine with all the simplicity, solidity and efficacy of a mechanical device.

Havana welcomed the repetitiveornament fashionable in Miami Beach,

with decorative panels embellishingfacades in endless combinations of

exuberant, fantasy designs. Geometricflowers or plant elements and squares,rhombuses, and triangles abounded incontrasting textures and slight variationsin color.

This alternative approach to Decoinserted itself into an island tradition that

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can be traced to theend of the nineteenthcentury. Many of the

Art Deco buildingsare rooted in the

traditional apartmentbuilding schemeof a commercialestablishment on

the ground floor with housing above, both organicallyintegrated into the urban landscape. In

other buildings, such a Neptuno 56, ArtDeco features coexist with traditionalelements, such as blinds, grilles, andstained-glass windows, but now with anew and varied design.

This architectural hybrid added a new visual dimension to the urban landscape.The repetition of decorative Art Decoelements in different neighborhoodsof the city acted as a unifying factor.

And the spread of Art Deco-inspired work from the professional level to widespread popularity provides a lessonin architectural coherence and integration.The result is an architectural expressionof a distinct appearance generated bymodernity and innovation.

Its adoption by non-architects represented true local re-interpretations of Art Decoin vernacular architecture during the1930s and 1940s. It also demonstrated thepersistence of middle class cultural values

and their influence onresidential architectureuntil the economiccrisis of 1920 led tosuburban expansionand the rise of compactapartment blocks

within central areas ofLatin American cities

Traditional architectural history failed toacknowledge Art Deco since it did not

coincide with the international style. Thispoint of view stresses the conflictingcharacter of the two styles rather than theircommon features and overlooks Art Decoas an alternative expression of modernity.

Art Deco’s divers ity of sources and widespread appl ication help explain the plural ity of its man ifestations. With the sel f-assurance of a newsensibility, it developed a language thatincorporated diversity to formulatea style with its own personality andexpression of the new.

Art Deco helped transform visualexperience at both the artistic and

the everyday level. In i ts dynamismand variety, Deco in all its variants,including Tropical, Streamline, andModern Monumental, contributedin different ways to the evolution ofmodernity.■

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Finlay Square, located in the municipalityof Marianao, is one of the best knownin Havana. Its celebrity is attributable

to the tall tower or obelisk at its center that originally functioned as a beacon forplanes from the neighboring airport of theformer Columbia military barracks.

Unveiled by former Cuban ruler

Fulgencio Batista in 1944 under thename Fourth of September Square, themonument commemorated the soldiersof the Columbia base who initiated thecoup d’état against President GerardoMachado on that date in 1933. In 1948,however, Cuban physicians askedPresident Ramón Grau San Martín tochange the name to Finlay Square inhomage to the distinguished Cubanphysician and scientist who identified themosquito as the carrier of yellow fever.

A commemorative plaque on the towerreads: “To the memory of Scientist Carlos

J. Finlay (1833-1915).”The tower stands at the center of alandscaped ellipse within a

traffic circle and is surroundedby four two-story buildings.The architectural assembly wasdesigned by engineer José PérezBenitoa with the support of what

was then known as the Ministryof Public Works. The tower rises32 meters (105 feet) and is faced

with Jaimanitas stone. Black granite covers the base, which

measures 8 meters (26.25 feet)on each side. The base containsa classical freize with allegoricalfigures designed by sculptorsNavarro and Lombardo. Theshaft of the tower is decorated

with open geometric motifs thatallow air and light to enter theinterior and ends in a balcony

that serves as a mirador.

By: Gustavo López

An Art Deco Squarein Havana Honoring a

Renowned Cuban

A beacon and a needle-shaped lightningrod crown the tower.

The concave shape of the four buildingssurrounding the tower accentuates andcompliments the layout of the square.The buildings are visually united byporticos supported by ten columns cladin Jaimanitas stone. The names of the

institutions formerly housed in thesestructures are carved on flat frontispiecesat the top of the porticos. All fourbuildings have a central patio and gardenand a parking area in the front. Although

the function of these buildings haschanged, sculptural reliefs reflecting theiroriginal purpose remain on the wall panelsseparating the windows.

The Finlay Square tower is the talleststructure in the neighborhood, making ita landmark for Havana residents travelingin the area. Cubans have christened

the Finlay Square obelisk “The Syringe”because of its resemblance to this medicalinstrument.■

Obelisk square in marianao neighborhood.

Detail of the top of the obelisk.Detail of the grounds of the obelisk.

San Alejandro art school in marianao square.

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At the corner of Belascoaín and SanMartín streets in Havana stands a five-story building that has gone largelyunnoticed by both architecture expertsand nonspecialists. It is difficult tocategorize this structure as a specificstyle. The arches of the attic suggest ahistoricist influence. However, the verticalcontinuity of the windows and piers, theabsence of stringcourses, the paucity ofdecorative elements, and the zigguratfinials represent a departure from the

treatment of tall buildings designed in

By: María Victoria Zardoya Loureda

A Pioneer of Modernity Leonardo Morales

and the Beginningsof Cuban Art Deco

the eclectic style. The entrance on SanMartín Street is topped by an atypical,quadrant-shaped lintel with parallel linearincisions alien to any form of historicism.The simplicity of the small lobby adds

to the austerity of the exterior, and theremaining interior spaces lack any type ofdecoration.

The intended function of the buildingmay account for the simplicity of theornamental treatment. It appears to havebeen designed to house commercial

interests or services. Today it is anapartment building.

The building resembles those of the late1940s, the final phase of the Art Decoera. The checkerboard pattern of the tilesjust below the roofline may represent a“naïve” interpretation of majolica ceramicdesigns. However, the knowledge that thebuilding dates to 1927 and was designedby the prestigious Cuban architectLeonardo Morales places it in a differentperspective. It appears to be a missing

Detail of the rooftop of the san martin corner building in Havana central.

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link in the historical chain of Havanaarchitecture.

Art Deco reached Cuba two years afterit was introduced to an internationalaudience at the 1925 Exposition

International des Arts Décoratifs etIndustriels Moderne in Paris. Its arrivalis considered to mark the beginningof modernity in Cuba. The formallanguage of this new style representeda move away from the eclecticism that

had characterized Cubanarchitecture since the beginningof the twentieth century.

Writing in Arquitectura y ArtesDecorativas in 1932, Professor

Joaquín Weiss noted: “…

architecture of our timeis already apparent in the‘primary’ or ‘primitive’ phase ofa rising style, linear in character,although in composition it leansmore to ‘compensation’ or‘balance’ than to ‘symmetry’and ‘formalism’…” Art Decomaintained decoration asan essential component ofarchitecture and retainedacademic principles ofcomposition but wascharacterized by an array of

totally new linear elements that at the time were labeled“modern art.”

The house of Francisco Argüelles, designed by architect José Antonio Mendigutía andcompleted in 1927, is generallyacknowledged to be the first

Art Deco building in Cuba. According to Weiss, it was “… the first serious attempt at‘modern’ architecture in thiscountry.”

The building at Belascoaín andSan Martín was also designedand constructed in 1927.

Although not as complete anexpression of the Art Deco

vocabulary as the Argüelleshouse, it is very significantbecause of the germ ofmodernity it incubated in its useof such simple decoration and

the treatment of a tall buildingin a manner unprecedented inCuba until then. Some of the

formal elements it employed were repeated later in a moreelaborated way in the well-

known trio of Art Deco towers thatdominate the skyline of Havana, which by

the time of their completion, was alreadyheading to modernity—the Bacardí(1930), the López Serrano (1932), and the

América (1941).■

Full view of the building in San martin's corner at havana central.

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The Cristóbal Colón (ChristopherColumbus) Cemetery in Havana is anopen-air museum as well as a Cubannational monument and a significanturban-scale project. Its construction

was authorized by royal decree on July28, 1866, and construction began onOctober 30, 1871. Almost fifteen yearslater, on July 2, 1886, the cemetery was

completed.

Covering 57 hectares (approximately140 acres), the Cristóbal Colón is themost important cemetery in Cuba and

the largest in the Americas. Because ofits magnificent sculpture and impressivemonuments representing a wide varietyof artistic styles, many specialists considerit second only to the Staglieno cemeteryin Genoa, Italy in terms of worldwidesignificance. The cemetery is rich inmyths and legends, and its grounds arecovered with greenery, which provides a

striking contrast to the cold white marblestructures that hold eternal memories.

By: Gustavo López

Cuba’s Cristóbal ColónCemetery: An Open-Air Museum

Art Deco designs are among the cemetery’sprincipal attractions. Notable examplesinclude the Catalina Lasa and Juan PedroBaró mausoleum, the Pieta sculpted by

the renowned Cuban artist Rita Longa,

the tomb of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes,a former president of the Republic ofCuba, the mausoleum of the Falla Bonetfamily, and the impressive Pantheon of the

Veterans of the Wars of Independence.■

Cespedes family's mausoleum.

Detail of veterans mausoleum.

Veterans mausoleum.

Falla Bonet's Mausoleum.

The Pieta sculpture of Rita Longa.

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Exterior of the Lopez Serrano building.

Exterior of the Lopez Serrano building.

America Theatre's building in Havana Central.

In Cuba, the “new art” that arrived at the beginning of the twentieth centurymore closely resembled Catalanmodernism than Belgian or French ArtNouveau, the Austrian Vienna Secession,German Jugendstil, Italian Liberty, orEnglish or Scottish Modern Art. Thoughinitially trendy, ultimately, its popularity

was short-lived and never captivated

the upper class or the first architectseducated in Cuba.

This break with historicism was followedby a generalized return to historic forms,as Beaux Arts eclecticism imposed itselfon the design of both residential andpublic buildings, sustained by a period ofeconomic prosperity known as Las VacasGordas (The Fat Cows). The combinationof the subsequent Cuban economic crisisrelated to the worldwide depressionand a political and social crisis led to theoverthrow of the dictatorship of Gerardo

Machado in 1933. The old elite that hadlooked to Europe for cultural leadership was supplanted by populist governments,democratically elected during the 1940salthough tainted by corruption andinequality. The cultural and architecturalmodels to follow crossed the Atlantic,shifting from Paris to New York and asmall, sleepy town on the other side of

the Florida Straits called Miami.

Within this context, and with a boostfrom the 1925 Exposition Internationaledes Arts Décoratifs et IndustrielsModernes in Paris, Cuban architecturebecame re-inspired. In its time, thenew approach to design was known by

the imprecise term “modern,” but itbecame universally known as Art Decoin 1966. In Cuba, architects rapidlyassimilated its formal features, despite

the lack of the underlying conceptualsupport that had provided the basis forEuropean modernism, a movement that

By: Mario Coyula

Art Deco: Style, Trend,or Fashion?

arrived later in Cuba where it becamehighly diluted by tropical hedonism.

Art Deco also influenced graphic arts, typography, and fashion and acquired anaura of the superficial, the decorative,

the trendy, and the chic. Its best exampleis the spectacular crown of the ChryslerBuilding (1930), a masterpiece by William

Van Alen and an imposing image that

appears in almost any film set in New York.

In 1926, the first Art Deco interior wascreated in Cuba for the Vedado mansionof the famous couple Juan Pedro Baró andCatalina de Lasa. The exterior designedby Evelio Govantes and Felix Cabarrocas

was in the Italian Renaissance style, but the interiors, supervised by Catalina’s sonPedro Estévez who traveled from New

York expressly to oversee the project, were Deco. René Lalique, a friend of thefamily, designed the glass. In 1932, Lalique

conceived the best Art Deco mausoleumat Havana’s Cristobal Colón Cemetery,incorporating the rose motif, a reference

to the flower created as an homage to Catalina’s extraordinary beauty.Landscape and urban architect Jean-Claude Nicholas Forestier, coordinatorfor the 1925 Paris Exposition, designed

the gardens.

Other outstanding Art Deco structuresat the cemetery, which was declareda National Monument in 1987, are

the mausoleums of the De Céspedes,Casteleiro, Steinhart, and Gómez Menafamilies, Rita Longa’s late streamline stylePietá for the Aguilera mausoleum, and theIndependence War Veterans Pantheonby architects Enrique Luis Varela and LuisDauval, with friezes by Juan José Sicre andFlorencio Gelabert.

In 1932, architects Emilio Govantes andFelix Cabarrocas designed the Paramount

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Theater in the RanchoBoyeros neighborhood ofLudgardita. Three yearsearlier, they had drafted theurban plan for Ludgardita,

with approximately 100

low-cost houses, industry,schools, and a park. The

theater at Ludgardita hasan impressive Art Decointerior with exotic Mayanelements, perhaps due to

the lack of an importantCuban pre-Columbianheritage from which todraw inspiration.

The sumptuous Art Decoornamentation of the elegantbuildings of the era relied on the

refined management of texturesand materials, including importedmarbles and nickel-plated steel; themeticulous integration of designsfor floors, ceilings, and lamps, with

the pioneering use of neon light andindirect lighting; and iron fittings,jardinières, grilles, and sculpturaldetails. This attention to detailcomplemented the emphasis on

verticality to express energy andspeed, a late influence of ItalianFuturism. All these features areunited in the beautiful, though today

shabby, lobby of the 1932 LopezSerrano building by Ricardo Miraand Miguel Rosich in the Vedadoneighborhood. This building withits beautiful nickel-plated steel,bronze, and enamel reliefs by

Enrique GarcíaCabrera exemplifies

the widespread useof Art Deco motifs inapartment buildings,a new building typeof the time. Thismodernity with

ornamental accents was intended tolure potential clients

who expected lavishdecoration in theirresidential buildings.

Another classic ofCuban Art Deco

is the 1930 Bacardí building by EstebanRodríguez Castells, José Menéndez,and Rafael Fernández. This magnificentproject had historicist origins but was

transformed after the architects came incontact with the latest European styles. A

comparison of these two jewels illustrates the changes in the model of referenceover only two years, which corresponded

with the previously mentioned economic,political, and cultural influences. In thedepression years of the early 1930s,Cuban architects were no longer looking

toward Europe but to the United States.

The angular verticality of the “classic” Art Deco style subsequently evolvedinto that of the Streamline Moderne

with its emphasis on horizontali ty,curvilinear lines, and rounded corners

but similar decorative elements. Theinfluence in this case was Miami Beach. A good example is the Fausto movie theater of 1938 by Saturnino Parajón, which received the Gold Medal awardof the Architects Association. Like theeclecticism that had predominated inCuban cities previously, Art Deco, andspecifically the Streamline variation,expanded throughout Havananeighborhoods to modest housesintended for low-income residents or asrentals. The Streamlined style loweredbuilding costs without completely

eliminating the ornamentation demandedby petit bourgeois taste. It also became very common in apartment houses.The “democratized” decoration,contemporaneous with the NewDeal and recovery from the GreatDepression, used pre-cast mortarelements, sometimes reduced to a fewhorizontal lines or grooves on the façade.

One of the finest Art Deco buildingsin Havana is the America (FernandoMartínez Campos and Pascal de Rojas,1941), which combines strong verticality

in its tall body with horizontality on the ground floor. The Streamline influence isevident in the theater’s luxurious interior,fortunately well preserved. Such overlapsof style are characteristic of Havana ArtDeco, and many architects moved fromone style to another. Perhaps the mostnotable example was young Rafael deCárdenas, who built a near-replica of the

Maternidad Obrera's hopital facade.

City Hall interior.

Catalina Lasa's dome.

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Venetian Ca’ d’Oro in 1930 for Estanislaodel Valle, yet was able in 1931-1934

to design a residence for Hilda Serrain which traces of Art Deco yielded to

proto-rationalism.

European influence reappeared in theModern Monumental style that originatedfrom the Parisian Trocadéro Group and

the great monuments of L’EUR for the1942 World’s Fair in Rome, the pride ofMussolini. In Cuba, this trend appearedonly in public buildings. In Marianao’s FinlaySquare (José Pérez Benitoa, 1944), four

very similar buildings with concave façadessurround a rotunda with an obelisk thatanchors the group. This monument is

the closest application of Art Deco on an

urban scale that exists in Cuba, although the proportions and especially the spirit were already Modern Monumental. A few years earlier, Emilio De Soto designed theMaternidad Obrera, or Workers Maternity(1939), with its magnificent oval multistorylobby, an example of the transition fromStreamline to Modern Monumental. Thecurved floor of the building mirrors the

uterus, ovaries and Fallopian tubes of thefemale reproductive system.

In spite of the relatively short life of thesestyles, the changes in form brought by

Art Deco and later Streamline, with itsEuropean contemporary Moderne, had asignificant impact on the image of the city.Unlike Art Nouveau from the beginning of

the twentieth century, which was identified with humble Catalan master builders, ArtDeco was deeply rooted among the mostimportant architects and the upper classof Havana and its diluted version extendedfurther to the more modest social andurban sectors. It was a movement that was

born nameless. It did not create a solid andcharacteristic body of theory and it did notreach the urban scale. Its rapid acceptanceand stylized and glamorous image,exemplified in Conrado Massaguer’sbeautiful covers for the magazine Social,left the impression of a world that hadforgotten the First World War whileunconsciously approaching the Second.■

Catalina Lasa's Palmas salon.

Interior of the Maternidad Obrera's Hospital.

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The Railroad and the City

of Camagüey

Between 1841 and 1846, one of the firstrailroads in the world was constructedin Cuba. The railroad connected thenorthern port of Nuevitas with theprosperous city of Santa Maria del Puertodel Príncipe, known today as Camagüey,a city that had previously been isolatedfrom the island’s centers of finance

and power. This isolation led to thedevelopment of a distinctive culture stillevident today.

The railroad irrevocably changed thelife of the city. Between 1900 and 1930,Puerto Príncipe grew considerably as newresidential neighborhoods were created

to house railroad owners and workers.The combination of splendid buildings and

vast, modest housing projects in theseneighborhoods imposed a new form on theold colonial city inherited from the Spanish.

In the early decades of the nineteenthcentury, a group of buildings linked to therailway was constructed near Plaza del

Vapor, the open market that is Carlos J.Finlay Park today. The complex includeda passenger depot (1908), a freight depot(1914), the Plaza Hotel (1915), and amagnificent neoclassical office buildinghousing the Cuban Consolidated Railroads(1925). Beginning in 1900, developmentbegan to the north of these buildingsalong the main artery now known as

By: Wilfredo Rodríguez Ramos

The Champagnat Schoolin Camagüey

Martyrs Avenue. This area was laid outin 90-by-90-meter (295-by-295-foot)blocks linked by a system of secondarystreets and avenues lined with trees andflowerbeds, an urban scheme importeddirectly from the United States by North

American investors in the joint railroadenterprise.

This new neighborhood was called La Vigía (Watchtower). The principal avenuehad four lanes separated by a central

barrier and sidewalks with continuousporches typical of Cuban architecture.It followed the path of the old colonialReina Street (now Republic Street) to thehistoric center with its labyrinth of streetsand radial typology.

Catalan Architects in the La

Vigía Neighborhood

By the end of the nineteenth century, thecity of Camagüey was already famousfor its architecture, primarily for having

the largest number of colonial Catholicchurches in the country. In the twentiethcentury, its architectural reputation wasenhanced by the eclectic designs that

were introduced by a migratory wave ofCatalan architects and master buildersfrom Spain, specifically Barcelona.

The combination of these new architectsand Camagüey’s fondness for impressivebuildings stamped a new architecturalimprint on many areas of the city. Thefirst four blocks of grand Martyrs Avenuein La Vigía became a virtual architecturemuseum offering unique examples of all

the styles of the first half of the twentiethcentury as well as an irreplaceableexample of colonial military architecture,

the Cavalry Barracks. Converted to ahotel in the early twentieth century, itbecame the Provincial Museum Ignacio

Agramonte in 1948. At that time, theHavana architect Raúl Otero added amonumental modern portico with Art

Deco features to the neoclassical colonialfaçade reminiscent of the grandiloquentarchitecture of Hitler and Mussolini.

One of the finest architectural groupingsin the city surrounds the barracks, acollection of private homes designed in

the various architectural styles of the firsthalf of the twentieth century. Notablebuildings extend from the barracks towardboth ends of the avenue—the House of

the 8 Cariátides (1905) by Catalan ClaudioMuns Piqué; the neo-Gothic Saint Joseph

Church (1936), the neo-colonial Saint PaulEpiscopal Church and school (1931), and the Hotel Residencial (1946) with its steep tower, impressive late Art Deco façade,and metal frame, all by Claudio Jaime MunsBlanchart, son of Claudio Muns Piqué; and

the Banco de los Colonos building (1957)by local architect Melitón Castelló Verde,a classic work of the modern movementlittle replicated in Havana. The fourthmasterpiece of architect Claudio MunsBlanchart in La Vigía is the ChampagnatSchool (1941), the principal Art Deco workin the city and the province of Camagüey.

By 1940, Art Deco architecture already hada long history in Camagüey and Cuba andonly eclecticism outranked it as the mostpopular style in traditional Cuban cities. Decomotifs decorated the facades of hundreds ofmodest structures, perhaps because it costless than the ornate eclecticism or because

the day’s tastemakers linked it to the futureand modernity.Detail of the champagnat school facade.

Details of the champagnat school facade.

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The first Art Deco buildings in Camagüeydate from approximately 1935, but thestyle peaked between 1938 and 1945,

when it began to give way to the ModernMovement. The Catalan architects andmaster builders were responsible formany of the Art Deco facades designedduring this period. In both La Vigía and

the oldest area of the historic center, the eclectic facades that had already“modernized” the old Baroque andneo-classical structures were graduallyreplaced by the new neo-colonial and

Art Deco styles. With a few notableexceptions, Art Deco in Camagüey ispredominantly a decorative style applied

to buildings that retained the old eclectic,and occasionally colonial, plan. It is not

unusual in Camagüey to find an austerenineteenth century plan or woodenbeams from the late eighteenth centuryhiding behind a New York-inspired ArtDeco façade.

This practice began changing in the late1930s and early 1940s when reinforcedconcrete came into widespread use.

Wooden ceilings, Baroque central patiofloors, and Catalan tiles surrendered to

the plastic and durable possibilities ofreinforced concrete. The designs of theCatalan architects and their descendants,

however, continued to reflect theirBarcelonan heritage. In Camagüey theydesigned everything from the only knownre-interpretation of architect AntonioGaudi’s Casa Batlló from Barcelona, to theCatholic church of the Sacred Heart of

Jesus (1912-1919), the most spectacularchurch in the city and the second tallestin Cuba. They were also responsible for

the humorous and unusualfaçade of a small house on LosPobres Street that combines

the very essence of Art Deco with pure Catalan traditionsof the early twentieth century.

The Champagnat

School in Camagüey

When a school in Camagüeyfounded by the MaristBrothers in 1935 outgrewits building, Claudio JaimeMuns Blanchet was hired in

1940 to design a new school funded by the Franco-American Educational Society.The C-shaped plan of the new building

was organized around a typical central garden patio, a classic element of Cubanarchitecture that serves as a thermo-regulator in the tropics. The complexincluded a gymnasium and a swimmingpool and large outdoors sports areas inaddition to the three-story main building.

No part of this main building escaped the decorative patterning of Art Deco.The school’s monumental facades and all

the decorative elements are Art Deco,including, the embossed letters and theschool’s symbol on the facade, beautifuliron gates enclosing the property, thebase of the banister of the interior stairs,

the plaster work and polychrome floorsof the lobby, the ceiling moldings, and thecapitals of the twenty-two columns thatsupport the galleries of the interior patio.

The three-story main facade iscomposed of five sections, three verticalprojecting elements at the center and

the corners and two others set back oneither side where the largest numberof classroom windows is located. The

vertical components are framed by hugeprojecting pilasters. The central sectioncontains the arched entrance with

the Marist symbol etched on the glass tympanum. The Cuban flag flies from amonumental flagpole inserted into animpressive Art Deco pinnacle atop theentrance, visible even from the interiorpatio and the sports areas.

When the Cuban educational system was nationalized in 1959, the beautiful

Carrara marble sculpture of MarcelinoChampagnat (the French saint whofounded the Marist order in thenineteenth century) designed and sculptedin Italy, was removed.

The second-story chapel, the most

important Art Deco interior in the city, was also destroyed. All that remains of the space today are archival photographsin old school yearbooks. The original

Art Deco furniture has also been lost,along with the original light fixtures andbathroom appointments.

The building now houses an elementaryschool. During a 2002 refurbishment,

the first in its history, the original interiorand exterior woodwork were repairedand the upper terrace behind the façade

was roofed with a light metallic structuredesigned in the Art Deco style.

Camagüey’s Office of Cultural Heritagehas given this building the Degree 1of Protection, the city’s highest ratingassigned to a work of architecture. Theschool is architecturally significant for tworeasons. First, it is most likely the best andmost complete Art Deco building in theprovince and city, which is known for ArtDeco works that, although modest, arearchitecturally valuable.

The second reason is more complexand rewarding. The school’s austere

Art Deco design reflects New York ArtDeco. However, the verticality and theprofusion of stylized plant forms in thedecorative panels is accompanied byclassical arches above the windows anddoors, an unmistakable symbol of thecolonial past and the primordial essenceof this city, which has existed for almost ahalf millennium.■

Champagnat school facade.

Interior playground of the champagnat school.

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The love of Catalina Lasaand Juan Pedro Baró ismore than a story. It is a

legend that has attractedfollowers for decades.In 1898, the beautiful,

young Catalina Lasamarried Luis Estévez

Abreu, son of Marta Abreu, patriot of the wars of independence,and Luis Estévez, thefirst vice president of

the Repúblic founded in1902. Catalina, famousfor her beauty and abeauty contest winner in 1902 and 1904,later met Juan Pedro Baró at one of thefabulous soirees of those times. The rich

By: Gustavo López

landowner fell in love with her gracefulness, andshe was entranced by the

young man’s demeanor.The couple was consumedby a sudden limitlesspassion and began meetingsecretly. When their affair

was discovered, it became the talk of high society.Because divorce lawshad yet to be enacted inCuba, Catalina Lasa dared

to ask her husband fora separation. When he

denied her request, she decided to leavehim and live with Juan Pedro. It was adecision fueled by love that would bring

the couple many unpleasant moments.

The prejudices of the times and pressurefrom the members of his family ledLuis Estévez Abreu to initiate judicialproceedings against Catalina, and an order

was issued for her arrest on charges ofbigamy. Immediately, Catalina and JuanPedro secretly fled Cuba for Paris. They

would, however, continue to be pursuedin other countries.

Disguised and traveling via different routes, thecouple arrived in France andreconnected in Marseillesbefore leaving together forItaly. They reached Rome

where they were receivedby the pope, who listened

to their story. The pope, thesupreme authority of theCatholic Church, blessed

them and annulled thereligious marriage betweenCatalina Lasa and LuisEstévez Abreu.

Catalina Lasa. Lalique glass work, Catalina Lasa home.

Marble and rod iron work, Catalina Lasa home.

Juan Pedro Baró.

Catalina Lasaand Juan Pedro Baró,

a Havana Legend of Loveand a Story of Two Art Deco Monuments

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In 1917, President Mario García Menocal,passed divorce laws in Cuba. That same

year, the separation of Catalina and herfirst husband was registered. Catalina and

Juan Pedro returned to Havana, where they were again accepted in the highsociety parlors that had once condemned

their union.

That moment marks the beginning of the story of one of the most famousarchitectural mansions in Havana. Thecouple commissioned the celebrated

architects Evelio Govantes and FélixCabarrocas to design their new home,an Italian Renaissance-inspired mansionon the aristocratic Avenida Paseo with acornice inspired by the Palazzo Strozziand gardens designed by Jean-ClaudeNicolas Forestier. Catalina and Juan Pedroinaugurated the house in 1927 with a

grand reception.

The Art Deco stylepredominates in

the interior of thisluxurious mansion,classified as the most

beautiful in Havanaand completed two years after the1925 ExpositionInternationale des

Arts Décoratifs

et Industriels

Modernes in Paris.The main stairwayhad laminatedsilver banistersand stained-glass

windows of Baccaratcrystal. The walls

of Catalina Lasa’sbedroom werecovered withmirrors, allowingher to contemplate

the attributes that had won her titles in the beautycontests of the early

twentieth centuryand so bewitched

Juan Pedro Baró.Precious woodscovered the wallsof Juan Pedro’s

bedroom. A hallway between the twobedrooms led to a room from which theentrance of the house and the AvenidaPaseo were visible.

Catalina seemed to have it all when Juan Pedro presented her with anunforgettable surprise. He had ordered

the floriculturists of Jardín El Fénix tocreate a new flower, unknown until

then, for his beloved wife, a unique rosein her favorite color, yellow, that henamed the Catalina Lasa after his eternallove. According to legend, Juan Pedropresented her with a beautiful bouquet of

these yellow roses on her birthday.

After the couple moved into the house,Catalina’s health began to decline. JuanPedro took her to France, hoping to finda cure, but she died in Paris in 1930. Herembalmed body was returned to Cubaand placed in a provisional tomb in the

Catalina Lasa's mausoleum.

Ceiling lamp of the Juan Pedro Baró's bedroom.

Cristóbal Colón cemetery while themausoleum that would harbor her mortalremains forever was constructed at a costof one-half million pesos.

The exceptional white marblemausoleum, designed by Renè Lalique in

the Art Deco style, was placed along thecentral avenue of the cemetery in front of

the great monument to the firemen whoperished in the fire of 1890. Catalina’sbody was placed in the mausoleum in1932 along with a bouquet made of

replicas of the roses that bore her namefabricated from precious stones, Ten yearslater, Juan Pedro Baró died in Havana.Both his and Catalina’s tombstones

were cast in concrete in situ to preventdesecration. And, it is said that Juan Pedroasked to be buried standing up to allowhim to watch over the eternal sleep of the

woman he so loved.■

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It all started when my daughter asked me,

“Mom, do you have any Bacardi Buildingphotos?”

Yes, I do! So off she went to show myphotos of the Bacardi to Geo Darder for

the Chicago Art Deco Society Magazine. And off I went with my two little point-and-shoot cameras, and my husband, to

walk the city in search of ArtDeco buildings.

Our first destination wasCentro Habana, or HavanaCentral, today a municipality

between Old Havana and the Vedado neighborhood. Someof Havana’s most outstanding

Art Deco buildings arelocated in this area, including

the America building, theFausto Theater, and manysmaller buildings—someunkempt, most modified insome way by the residents,some unattractive, and some

By: Vivian Figueredo

Discovering Art Decoin Havana: A PersonalRevelation

still holding onto their past glory despite

time and decay.

Our second stop was the Cristóbal Colóncemetery in the heart of Vedado. Thefour main streets of the cemetery arelined with Art Deco mausoleums, manyof them breathtaking. You cannot believe

the beauty and elegance of the CatalinaLasa mausoleum,

the solemnity of theCespedes familysepulcher, and

the gracefulnessof the almost

hidden Pietá of the Aguilera grave. And then, at theend of the principalstreet of thecemetery, acrossfrom the church,is the Steinhartmausoleum. Aleisurely lookaround the grounds

Corner of Monserrate and San Juan

de Dios (across Bacardi Building),

Old Havana.

Corner ofNeptuno and San Nicolás Streets,

Havana Central.

26 St. between 21st and 23rd Streets,Vedado.

12 St. between 17th and 19th Streets, Vedado.

23rd St. between 18th and 20th streets, Vedado,

(Architecture Award winner).

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reveals a surprising number of Art Deco

or Art Deco-inspired monuments. Youfeel like the great explorer who has hit

the archaeological jackpot! It’s amazing!

As we left the cemetery to head backhome via Twenty-Third Street, theneighborhood I have lived in for fifty

years, I crane my neck and there,right in front of me, I see, beside theCinematheque movie theater, a two-story, Art Deco building with an art galleryon the ground floor. In the block ahead ofme, toward the sea, there is another, thenanother. . . I had no need to leave Vedado

to search for Art Deco. Wherever youlook in this neighborhood, you will find anexample of its influence.

Havana is full of Art Deco buildings, notall beautiful or breathtaking, but youmight be surprised at the richness. All youneed is a good pair of walking shoes, astrong neck to hold up your head, and thehunter’s disposition.■ 23rd Street between 26th and 28th streets, Vedado.

San Rafael Street (1937).

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By: Vicki Gold Levi

Social, a Pioneer in CubanGraphic Arts

Several cosmopolitan magazinespublished in Havana during the first halfof the nineteenth century resembledleading American and European

periodicals. However the Havana-based Social, Carteles, and Bohemia magazines presented a true sense ofCubanness.

Social was founded in 1916 by thecaricaturist and illustrator ConradoMassaguer. The book Cuba Style:Graphics from the Golden Age of Design (Princeton Architectural Press, 2002)by Vicki Gold Levi and Steven Heller

includes a chapter devoted to Cubanmagazines that addresses the impactof Social on Cuban culture. As Heller

writes: "Social was dedicated to creatinga new cultural environment through

the celebration of Cuban architecture,interior decorating, fashion, social

events (motoring and yachting), and artisticendeavors (opera, ballet,and film). It supp

chicago art deco society havana

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