The Arts in New York City
The first painting I selected in El Museo del Barrio was Paisaje (Landscape). This painting is a medium sized, 24.25 by 19.75 inches, oil on canvas which depicts a weathered, grungy white background with various globs of brown, green and grey streaks painted on it. The painter, Fidelio Ponce de Leon, lived in Cuba and is considered by many to be the most authentic Cuban painter of his time. Unlike many other Cuban artists who portrayed an idealized Cuba, Ponce painted scenes of poverty and sickness which characterized the life of the average Cuban in the 1930s.
This piece caught my eye mostly because I visited Cuba around a year ago and had my eye out for Cuban art. The dullness of this piece coupled with the title Landscape may at first seemed very abstract, and perhaps Ponce meant it to be, but something eventually clicked within me and this piece became an instance of Ponce’s authentic depictions. As I continued gazing at this piece, it became clear that this artwork could have no other title because I had personally experienced this Cuban landscape.
Although Cuba has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world and tourists can vacation there in luxury, the average Cuban lives in total poverty. Walking down the streets of Havana takes one to narrow alleys with dilapidated, crumbling buildings on either side. Small shirtless children play soccer or tag while neighbors sit on cracked steps talking and watching passers-by. To my eye, Ponce’s painting is an exact portrayal of the beaten stucco walls that make up these Cuban buildings. For the average urban Cuban, their landscape isn’t a beautiful beach or crisp mountainside, but the wall of the building across from where they sit and watch their children play.
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