Barbaro Martinez-Ruiz is Leverhulme Distinguished Professor and Senior Fellow at St Anthony's College, University of Oxford. [1] [2] [3]
Felix Barbaro Martinez-Ruiz, born in 1967, is an art historian whose work examines the links between visual culture, performance and art. Martinez-Ruiz's work interrogates and traces the connections between the Bakongo traditions of graphic writing prevalent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo & Angola and the Palo Monte traditions in Cuba. More broadly, Martinez-Ruiz's research challenges the disciplinary boundaries of art history to unfold the rich and valuable visual communication, ethnography, ecology and cosmologies by and through the art and cultural heritage of African Atlantic diasporas. Martinez-Ruiz received his BA at the University of Havana in 1994 and his PhD from Yale University in 2004. At Yale he was a student of Robert Farris Thompson, who wrote the Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy. Martinez-Ruiz grew up in Cuba Oriente, the eastern provinces of Cuba and later moved to Havana. At the age of 18 he was drafted into the Cuban military and was sent to Angola as a soldier. Upon his return to Cuba, he finished his degree began teaching Caribbean art and working in film, at the Instituto Superior de Arte, in Havana, and Havana University. In this capacity he was able to return to Angola to collaborate with other artists on a film. The film project became a point of entry into the Kongo graphic writing systems and rock painting studies that has informed his research for over 27 years. [4]
Wifredo Óscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla, better known as Wifredo Lam, was a Cuban artist who sought to portray and revive the enduring Afro-Cuban spirit and culture. Inspired by and in contact with some of the most renowned artists of the 20th century, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Lam melded his influences and created a unique style, which was ultimately characterized by the prominence of hybrid figures. This distinctive visual style of his also influences many artists. Though he was predominantly a painter, he also worked with sculpture, ceramics and printmaking in his later life.
Zaire is one of the 18 provinces of Angola. It occupies 40,130 square kilometres (15,490 sq mi) in the north west of the country and had a population of 594,428 inhabitants in 2014. It is bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, on the north by the Democratic Republic of Congo, on the east by the Uíge Province, and on the south by the Bengo Province.
Kongo or Kikongo is one of the Bantu languages spoken by the Kongo people living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and Angola. It is a tonal language. The vast majority of present-day speakers live in Africa. There are roughly seven million native speakers of Kongo in the above-named countries. An estimated five million more speakers use it as a second language.
The Kongo people are a Bantu ethnic group primarily defined as the speakers of Kikongo. Subgroups include the Beembe, Bwende, Vili, Sundi, Yombe, Dondo, Lari, and others.
Cuban art is an exceptionally diverse cultural blend of African, South American, European, and North American elements, reflecting the diverse demographic makeup of the island. Cuban artists embraced European modernism, and the early part of the 20th century saw a growth in Cuban avant-garde movements, which were characterized by the mixing of modern artistic genres. Some of the more celebrated 20th-century Cuban artists include Amelia Peláez (1896–1968), best known for a series of mural projects, and painter Wifredo Lam, who created a highly personal version of modern primitivism. The Cuban-born painter Federico Beltran Masses (1885–1949), was renowned as a colorist whose seductive portrayals of women sometimes made overt references to the tropical settings of his childhood.
Publio Amable Raúl Martínez González, known as Raúl Martínez, was a Cuban painter, designer, photographer, muralist, and graphic artist. He is best known for colorful pop-art portraits of leading Cuban political figures including José Martí and Camilo Cienfuegos.
Luis Camnitzer is a German-born Uruguayan artist, curator, art critic, and academic who was at the forefront of 1960s Conceptual Art. Camnitzer works primarily in sculpture, printmaking, and installation, exploring topics such as repression, institutional critique, and social justice.
Juan Boza Sánchez or Juan Stopper Sanchez was a gay Afro-Cuban-American artist specializing at painting, drawing, engraving, installation and graphic design.
José Braulio Bedia Valdés is a Cuban painter currently residing in Florida.
Grupo Antillano was a Cuban artistic group was formed by 16 artists, between 1975 and 1985, in Havana, Cuba.
Juan Miguel Rodríguez de la Cruz was a Cuban artist.
Esterio Segura Mora is a Cuban artist.
René Portocarrero was a Cuban artist recognised internationally for his achievements.
The Bienal de La Habana was an traditional Latin, Caribbean event, originated in Havana, Cuba, that aims to raise awareness to promote contemporary art and giving priority to Latin-American and Caribbean artists.
Juan Roberto Diago Durruthy"Diago" is an Afro-Cuban contemporary artist.
Fidelio Ponce de León was the pseudonym of Alfredo Fuentes Pons, a Cuban painter. A native of Camagüey, he studied at the San Alejandro Academy in Havana from 1913 until 1918. Along with Antonio Gattorno, Victor Manuel, Amelia Peláez, and Wifredo Lam, he is considered part of the "Vanguardia" movement in Cuban art; however, unlike many of his contemporaries he never studied in Europe, and so had comparatively little contact with European modernism. Nevertheless, he listed among his influences Amedeo Modigliani, along with El Greco, Rembrandt, and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo. His paintings are also reminiscent of those of Edvard Munch. Later in life Ponce de León contracted tuberculosis; he died in Havana on 19 February 1949. The Museum of Modern Art is among the museums containing examples of his work.
The Salón de Mayo was an art exhibition held in Havana, Cuba, in July 1967. It took its name from the Salon de Mai, an artists collective founded during the Nazi occupation of France. It was organized by Carlos Franqui with the assistance of such artists as Wifredo Lam, René Portocarrero, Alexander Calder, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso.
Nkondi are mystical statuettes made by the Kongo people of the Congo region. Nkondi are a subclass of minkisi that are considered aggressive. The name nkondi derives from the verb -konda, meaning "to hunt" and thus nkondi means "hunter" because they can hunt down and attack wrong-doers, witches, or enemies.
Raul Valdes Gonzalez, known by his friends and professionally as Raupa, was born in Havana, Cuba on March 4, 1980. He is an independent artist and has created images of events and institutions of great importance to the Cuban culture. Graphic design and film “motion graphics” are his concentration, produced through the language of illustration, animation and video.