Money and control; a story of art in the Cold war and Cuba

Cuba is an island that is constantly in discussion with itself. It is filled with multiplicities and peculiarities. In his chapter The New Cuban Art, Gerardo Mosquera explains the roll art has played and its relation to the political apparatus in place from the 1950’s to the 1990’s. modern Cuban art can be said to have originated from the rise of nationalism in the 1920’s. However, it really took off the 50’s and even blossomed in the 80’s with the introduction of free art education, often originated from the utopian dreams of the 60’s. To me the relatively high level of education that can be seen in the ever so poor Cuba in combination with its isolation and influence from the western world is at the base of the surprising and unique art it produces. Cuban Art history grew up without schools or manifesto’s. It has always been significant as a place for social discussion, which was not available elsewhere due to the strict government censorship and control. The political change of 1959 in Cuba brought notable state support for culture through the creation of spaces, institutions, and events in all areas. But with it came regulation, that was held in place until a group of artist decided to go against the grain of government control and started to provoke, to question the status quo. This was a turning point, and the creation of a ministry of culture gave the arts more status. But while the government still tried to follow and thereby regulate, the new artists ignored them and did whatever they deemed best to distaste of the government officials. This caused the government to still not commission or allow to exhibit these fresh forms of art, forcing the Cuban artists to look beyond their island. The Cuban art has strong roots and references to Cuba as its relevance lies not in history but commentary and social discussion. It is not recognized enough by its government forcing them to distance themselves from them even further, yet it has to be tolerated because it is heavily supported by its role in Cuban culture. The art is made by well educated artists that wanted to rebel in the remnants of the promised utopia.

Claudia Mesch takes on art in the cold war and does that surprisingly and refreshingly neutral. She starts of with Social Realism, of course. The art movement so clearly used as a political tool in the USSR, but also illustrates examples in other countries that wanted to perfect the socialist ideology. For example, Deineka’s works highlighted the significance of teamwork as a way to achieve success, putting individual talent onto the sidelines. Which screams Socialist propaganda. Then we see the same happening in the US only with the capitalist viewpoint. And then we have the in between artists, who mainly comment on the building tensions of the two superpowers, recognizing the flaws of both.

I think the fact that the Cuban government denied or not fully recognize the power of art created an independence in a time where the rest of the world was subject to extreme government control through funding and commissioning. Art was used as a government tool in the cold war, but Cuba used it as a tool for its people to escape that control.