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Intellectuals and Artists in the Cuban Republic (1902-1940s)

An Inquiry into Choteo by Jorge Mañach

Jorge Mañach is one of the most important Cuban thinkers of the 20th century. His activity as a philosopher, scholar, journalist, historian, and politician is an index of Cuba’s dramas and conflicts at that time. Mañach, author of Martí, El apóstol is largely responsible for not only construing the 20th century image of one of the nation’s founders, but also for dissecting the conflicted relationship between Cuba and the United States, in the polemical Manifesto of the political group ABC. His diverse list of writings include the foreword to a clandestine edition of Fidel Castro’s famous 1953 speech, “History Will Absolve Me.”

Jacqueline Loss (PhD, University of Texas-Austin) is professor of Latin American literature at the University of Connecticut. She is the author of Dreaming in Russian. The Cuban Soviet Imaginary (2013) and Cosmopolitanisms and Latin America: Against the Destiny of Place (2005) and co-editor of Caviar with Rum: Cuba-USSR and the Post-Soviet Experience (with José Manuel Prieto, 2012) and New Short Fiction from Cuba (with Esther Whitfield, 2007). Her essays and translations have appeared in Nepantla, Chasqui, New Centennial Review, Bomb, La Gaceta, Kamchatka, Transnational Screens, among other publications. Her translation of Jorge Mañach’s An Inquiry into Choteo was published by Linkgua in 2018. She is currently co-directing, with Juan Carlos Alom, a documentary entitled FINOTYPE.
Massaguer: Trend Setter of Cuban Caricature and Culture

This talk will focus on the life and art of the late renown Cuban illustrator, Conrado Massaguer. He founded and directed the most influential magazines in Cuba, Social and Carteles. His magazines and illustrations helped shaped the visual culture of his native Cuba between the 1920s and 1950s. He advanced modernist aesthetics, disseminated images of the “new woman,” and promoted Cuba as a destination. He was a celebrated caricaturist of world leaders and other public figures.

Vicki Gold Levi is a historical picture editor, photography curator, and author who has worked for Esquire, Mirabella, and New Woman. Co-founder of the Atlantic City Historical Museum, she lives in New York City. Vicki Gold Levi is known for her work on Boardwalk Empire (2010), Cuba Style: Graphics from the Golden Age of Design (2002), American Experience (1988) and Great Performances (1971).

Cuban Avant-Garde: Fundamental Principles of the 1920s and 1930s

The 1920s was an exhilarating period for the emergent Cuban avant-garde. The pages of Revista de Avance as well as the declaration of the Grupo Minorista rejected tradition, affirmed the new, and defended nationalism as the top issues in the Cuban vanguardia’s agenda. The new generation of anti-academic artists embraced European modernist trends and combined them with local motifs in their search for national identity. This talk will offer a brief overview of the fundamental principles of the 1920s and 1930s Cuban avant-garde.

Iliana Cepero (PhD, Stanford University) is assistant professor of Modern/Contemporary Art History and Visual Studies at The New School. She is a Cuban art historian, curator, and art critic. Her professional career includes curatorial work at the Fototeca de Cuba and at the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba. She co-curated the exhibition “Cuba: Art and History. From 1868 to today” held at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2008. She has written and lectured extensively on Cuban art and photography.

Discussant

Ernesto Menéndez-Conde (PhD, Duke University) is an assistant professor of Spanish at LaGuardia Community College, CUNY. He is the Editor in Chief of ArtExperience:NYC, an online art magazine. His areas of research are related to contemporary Cuban art, aesthetic ideologies, and theories of the image. He has published in journals and magazines in New York City, Spain, Havana, and Miami.











When: Tue., Mar. 10, 2020 at 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Where: Graduate Center, CUNY
365 Fifth Ave.
212-817-7000
Price: Free
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An Inquiry into Choteo by Jorge Mañach

Jorge Mañach is one of the most important Cuban thinkers of the 20th century. His activity as a philosopher, scholar, journalist, historian, and politician is an index of Cuba’s dramas and conflicts at that time. Mañach, author of Martí, El apóstol is largely responsible for not only construing the 20th century image of one of the nation’s founders, but also for dissecting the conflicted relationship between Cuba and the United States, in the polemical Manifesto of the political group ABC. His diverse list of writings include the foreword to a clandestine edition of Fidel Castro’s famous 1953 speech, “History Will Absolve Me.”

Jacqueline Loss (PhD, University of Texas-Austin) is professor of Latin American literature at the University of Connecticut. She is the author of Dreaming in Russian. The Cuban Soviet Imaginary (2013) and Cosmopolitanisms and Latin America: Against the Destiny of Place (2005) and co-editor of Caviar with Rum: Cuba-USSR and the Post-Soviet Experience (with José Manuel Prieto, 2012) and New Short Fiction from Cuba (with Esther Whitfield, 2007). Her essays and translations have appeared in Nepantla, Chasqui, New Centennial Review, Bomb, La Gaceta, Kamchatka, Transnational Screens, among other publications. Her translation of Jorge Mañach’s An Inquiry into Choteo was published by Linkgua in 2018. She is currently co-directing, with Juan Carlos Alom, a documentary entitled FINOTYPE.
Massaguer: Trend Setter of Cuban Caricature and Culture

This talk will focus on the life and art of the late renown Cuban illustrator, Conrado Massaguer. He founded and directed the most influential magazines in Cuba, Social and Carteles. His magazines and illustrations helped shaped the visual culture of his native Cuba between the 1920s and 1950s. He advanced modernist aesthetics, disseminated images of the “new woman,” and promoted Cuba as a destination. He was a celebrated caricaturist of world leaders and other public figures.

Vicki Gold Levi is a historical picture editor, photography curator, and author who has worked for Esquire, Mirabella, and New Woman. Co-founder of the Atlantic City Historical Museum, she lives in New York City. Vicki Gold Levi is known for her work on Boardwalk Empire (2010), Cuba Style: Graphics from the Golden Age of Design (2002), American Experience (1988) and Great Performances (1971).

Cuban Avant-Garde: Fundamental Principles of the 1920s and 1930s

The 1920s was an exhilarating period for the emergent Cuban avant-garde. The pages of Revista de Avance as well as the declaration of the Grupo Minorista rejected tradition, affirmed the new, and defended nationalism as the top issues in the Cuban vanguardia’s agenda. The new generation of anti-academic artists embraced European modernist trends and combined them with local motifs in their search for national identity. This talk will offer a brief overview of the fundamental principles of the 1920s and 1930s Cuban avant-garde.

Iliana Cepero (PhD, Stanford University) is assistant professor of Modern/Contemporary Art History and Visual Studies at The New School. She is a Cuban art historian, curator, and art critic. Her professional career includes curatorial work at the Fototeca de Cuba and at the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba. She co-curated the exhibition “Cuba: Art and History. From 1868 to today” held at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in 2008. She has written and lectured extensively on Cuban art and photography.

Discussant

Ernesto Menéndez-Conde (PhD, Duke University) is an assistant professor of Spanish at LaGuardia Community College, CUNY. He is the Editor in Chief of ArtExperience:NYC, an online art magazine. His areas of research are related to contemporary Cuban art, aesthetic ideologies, and theories of the image. He has published in journals and magazines in New York City, Spain, Havana, and Miami.

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