LA PINTURA Y ESCULTURA EN CUBA, used cataloge, Gift (Regalo)

Libro - Book

Catalago.
Una reseña historica sobre la evolucion de LA PINTURA Y LA ESCULTURA EN CUBA

La pintura y la Escultura en Cuba ––Painting and Sculpture in Cuba ––La Peinture et la Sculpture a Cuba by Dr. Esteban Valderrama y Peña in National School of Fine Arts San Alejandro, Presidential Palace and National Museum was an edition of homage to the Semicentennial of the Independence of Cuba in 1952.

LA PINTURA Y LA ESCULTURA EN CUBA (subtitle: Painting and Sculpture in Cuba/La Peinture et la Sculpture a Cuba). Edited by Esteban Valderrama y PeÝa. Published by the Cuban Government in 1952 to mark the 50th Anniversary of the establishment of the Cuban Republic (1902-1952). Havana: Editorial LEX. Containing 42 coloured plates; 310 black & white plates; and 350pp of text in three languages (Spanish, English, French). This copy is number 72 of a limited edition. EXTREMELY RARE & HIGHLY SOUGHT AFTER. In Excellent condition. This is the Holy Grail of Cuban art books: the most lavish, authoritative and beautiful: a work of art in itself. As already noted, it contains 42 full-page colour reproductions of Cuban paintings of all eras prior to 1952: the colours are stunning, nothing like the vulgar glossy reproductions of today. There are also 310 black & white plates, which are also infinitely superior to the colour reproductions of today. The 350pp of text in three languages is no less impressive. It contains a history of the San Alejandro Art Academy, the cradle of all Cuban art; extensive illustrated biographies of all major and minor Cuban painters and sculptors; a history of the National Museum of Art and all its riches; and a history (really inventory) of the Presidential Palace and its artistic treasures. I will not name names, because every name in Cuban art prior to 1952 is represented here. STOP reading here if arts, not politics, is all that interests you. Everytime that I peruse this book a great sadness comes over me and I must put it down. Our country's glorious artistic patrimony, chronicled and perpetuated here for eternity, is lost to us forever: the barbarians have left nothing. The collections of the Cuban National Museum and the Museum of Modern Arts no longer exist: Castro has sold everything and the empty spaces are now occupied by officially-sanctioned fakes. The Presidential Palace has been gutted: even its Tiffany windows and lamps and doorknobs engraved with the Cuban shield have been pillaged. Cuba's private art collections were long ago confiscated by the Castro regime. Whenever you encounter a reproduction of a painting used by permission of its owner in this book, you may be sure that it is no longer in his or his decendents' possession. But the worse, the absolute worse for me, is the photograph of Juan JosΘ Sicre beside his statue of Narciso Lopez (the first to challenge Spanish rule in Cuba and the designer of the Cuban flag). The statue was commissioned by the town of Cardenas, where Lopez landed, for the centenary of the Cuban flag. The statue, like hundreds of others, no longer exists: it was smashed to pieces by Castro's mobs because Castro--the former Soviet satrap--accused the martyred Lopez of being a "Yankee stooge." Yes, Castro actually picks fights with long dead Cuban heroes, as he is determined to be the beginning and the end of all things in our history. But he is not: the propaganda poster art, which is the Castro regime's sole contribution to the arts, pales in comparison to the glory that existed before Castro and which he destroyed. And this book, this glorious book, which was issued 50 years ago to celebrate Cuban art and now serves as its tombstone, attests to everything that was lost when we lost our way as a country 45 years ago. And now my sadness is your sadness.

This is a valuable book with 42 tricoloured prints, 310 in black color and 350 pages of text in 3 languages Spanish, English and French. Meassuring 12.5 x 9 inches is a book in excellent condition. MANY COLOR AND B/W ILUTRATIONS OF PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURES OF THE BEST REPUBLICAN ARTISTS SUCH AS : ARMANDO & AUGUSTO MENOCAL , DOMINGO RAMOS, ROMANACH, BENCOMO MENA, RODRIGUEZ MOREY, MARIBONA, VALDERRAMA, JUAN JOSE SICRE , GELABERT, RAMOS BLANCO, JESUS CASAGRAN AND OTHERS. Con 42 tricomfas, 310 grabados en blanco y negro y 350 páginas de texto en 3 idiomas.

Presenta su carátula original en muy condiciones de conservacion como se puede observar en la imagen, con muestras de desgaste tipicas en la caratula de estos libros, mayormente en el lomo. Páginas interiores tambien en excelente estado de conservacion. La Habana, Septiembre de 1952.

This makes a great gift, or for another upcoming event.

Esto seria un gran regalo, o para otra cercana fecha señalada.