its aim to Brazilian modernism, a strong and cohesive artistic avant-garde
emerged in Havana in 1927. Like most pioneer Latin American modern
art movements, the Cuban vanguardia involved a nucleus of painters who
visited Europe during their formative years and, on return to their native
land, linked with review magazines and new exhibition spaces in a drive
to reform and rejuvenate their nation's art and, by extension, its culture.
Mexican art was known in Cuba through the long and extensive historical
and cultural relationship between the two countries. The Cuban vanguar-
dia artists admired the achievements of the Mexican mural movement,
which encouraged them to explore, among other things, the expression of
a national identity through art. On the other hand, modern Cuban artists,
like their Brazilian and Argentinean counterparts, were also committed to
formal innovation. They wanted to express a sense of place in the artistic
language of their time.

The most prominent painters who initiated the modern movement in
Cuban art, known collectively as la vanguardia, were Jorge Arche ( 1905-
56), Eduardo Abela ( 1891-1965), Carlos Enríquez ( 1900-57), Aristides
Fernández ( 1904-34), Antonio Gattorno ( 1904-80), Wifredo Lam ( 1902-
82), Víctor Manuel García ( 1897-1969), Amelia Peláez del Casal ( 1895-
1968), Marcelo Pogolotti ( 1902-88), Fidelio Ponce de León ( 1895-1949),
and Domingo Ravenet ( 1905-69). ² Born around the turn of the century,
these artists grew up in the turmoil of constructing a new nation ( Cuba
became a republic, at least in name, in 1902) and reached maturity when
Cubans were engaged in discovering and inventing a national identity. They
fully shared in the sense of confidence, renovation, and nationalism that
characterized Cuban progressive intellectuals in the second quarter of the
twentieth century.

Most of these painters attended the San Alejandro Academy of Fine
Arts in the early 1920s. This academy was founded in 1818 by Spanish
cultural superintendent Alejandro Ramirez, who named as its first direc-
tor the French neoclassical painter Juan Bautista Vermay. ³ San Alejandro
began as a progressive element in Cuban culture but had run its course a
century later. Although it continued to offer an essential service as the only

-2-