Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies

Cuba: A History in Art by Gary Libby; Juan A. Martnez Review by: Nria Sabat-Llobera Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, Vol. 11 (2007), pp. 216-217 Published by: Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20641863 . Accessed: 24/01/2014 14:37
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216 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies

In chapter 1, El Sur and Bene (1985), the opening novels ofGarcia Morales's literary
creation, are

Mary Shelleys Frankenstein (1818-31). Either

novel's lack of resolution on the reader. generates a haunting impression

Dorian Gray (1890/91). The three ThePicture of works share the haunting effect produced by a narrative the downward pattern, spiral specific of a character in each individual text, causing the horror of thosewho watch them and the
repercussion them. Each on the characters constitutes that a surround novel nightmare

analyzed

alongside

Oscar

Wilde's

where the readers and internal characters alike

are condemned to watch in horror.

graphically,thematicallyand diachronically.The Gothic subjectmatter transgressesand depicts themost disturbing aspects of the human cir
cumstance.

Abigail Six's study of Garcia Morales's treatment of the Gothic in her works places the Spanish author in the international sphere, transcending the Spanish literary scene geo

tains in both texts,is short lived in a patriarchal where women's lot is to be enclosed, ei society therphysicallyor psychologically.Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) is studied with La l?gica del vampiro (1990). Both novels present thevampire concept raising "questions about power and by gender" (53). Ghosts, powerlessness inflected the quintessential Gothic figures, appear inLas

presents the parallels between El silenciode las sirenas (1985) and Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries ofUdoIpho (1974). The sublime vastness, and moun possible female liberationofferedby the

Chapter

Maria Luisa Guardiola Swarthmore College

Cuba: A History inArt The Museum ofArts and Sciences inDaytona Beach, 1997 By Gary Libby and Juan A. Martinez Gary Libby s study is based on Cuban paintings thatare part ofThe Cuban Foundation

mujeres de Hector (1994) and The Turn of the Screw (1898) by Henry James. In these ghost
stories, the

Collection atThe Museum ofArts and Sciences inDaytona Beach, Florida. Although the book
contains numerous centers on the book images a around from the collection, of essays compilation moments in important

is constantly present.The blurring divide amid

the character's own memories, anxieties and

interplay

between

inside

and outside

(1995) and Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764). Both novels depict the entrap ment of thevictimswithin the buildingswhere
gloom, silence and hauntedness

imagination is confused by the haunting effect of the ghostly appearances. Chapter 5 focuses on the frighteningbuildings in La tiaAgueda

reflecting art. Cuban

the most

In theopening essay,"The Rise of a Cuban Style," Libby argues that the origin ofmodern
Cuban

Wilkie Col Dr.JekyllandMr. Hyde (1886) and lins, TheWoman inWhite (1859-60). Double
transgression and its monstrous consequences

El accidente (1997), La senorita Medina (1997), Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of

ever, the persistentGothic threatof the other (woman) lives on. The dreadful secret,a staple of theGothic novel, will emerge in novels like

friendships are presented inNasmiya (1996) and Daphne duMaurier, Rebecca (1938). How

pervade.

Female

The first is the European tradition of paint ing taught at theAcademia de San Alejandro (founded inHavana in 1818) during the 19th and early 20th century.The second influence originates from the native Taino objects and African folklore (These latterelementswere res
urrected as fundamentals after of Cuban 1920, when grants modernity, students to travel of to or art renovation, the Academia were

painting

stems from two main

influences.

awarded

Europe and were influencedby European mod ernistartists). Although the author offersa deep of the painters trained at San Alejandro analysis
and their

will appear inUna historia perversa (2001) and

Taino and African provides real insight into the

European-inspired

works,

he

never

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Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies 217

elements which hementions brieflyin theearlier part of the essay. Stronger input on this latter aspectwould greatlycontribute to fullerunder standing ofmodern Cuban painting. The second essay, "Cuban Painting in the Republican Period, 1902-1959," by art In addition to the three essays, Libby also includes a chronology of the expansion of photography inCuba, a "Note on The Cu ban Foundation Collection," and an excellent as as biographies catalog of the paintings well of the artists mentioned, all ofwhich make the book a useful resource for studentsand scholars of Cuba. Finally, it is important to recognize that the book contains only paintings found in theDaytona Beach museum while necessarily art in Cuba. While
somewhat leaves the reader hungry, it

A. Martinez provides background historian Juan on the private and public institutionsfounded afterCuba

gained independence from Spain in 1902, which significantly contributed to the enhancement and appreciation of Cuban
immediate post-independence but also era was

disregarding Cuban
absence

this

art. The

marked by hopeful and serious attempts not

only to renovate

he puts it:

culture. Through an analysis of themain top ics used inCuban art of this period,Martinez traces the evolution of this spiritof renewal.As

society,

to transform

also makes the book particularlyworthwhile. After all, theDaytona Beach collection is the only collection ofCuban art currentlyavailable to theU.S. public. Niiria Sabate-Llobera Centre College

"this period, which actually begins in the 1920s and lasts into the early 1960s, is highly dynamic and
characterized academic a movement from by to abstract art, from the ad

models aptation ofEuropean artistic

to North American ones, and from the representation of a collective-ori

Popular Spanish Film under Franco: Comedy and the Weakening of the State Palgrave Macmillan, By StevenMarsh 2006

ented subjectmatter to themaking of introspectivesigns. (32)

Martinez concludes by summarizing the

linksbetween cultural and social ideas inCuba and by drawing specific attention to particular paintings in The Cuban Foundation Collec
tion.

task is not easy as he culture. His by popular overcome to the two constraints must linked

Steven Marsh offersa thoughtfulanalysis makes of Spanish comedy during Francoism that us betterunderstand the roleof resistance played

Surprisingly,the thirdessay isabout pho After having traced the development tography. of painting inCuba up to the 1959 Revolution, Libby shifts to photography on the grounds
that its contribution to culture is as

regime's propaganda. And secondly, Spanish comedy has traditionallybeen excluded from the ideological debate. Marsh makes clear in his book that comedy served as the space of
resistance

analysis of Spanish cinema during this period. Firstly, it is a commonplace to see Spanish filmfrom early Francoism as the vehicle of the

as historical documents justifies their photos inclusion. Nevertheless, theabrupt change could have been softened perhaps by a comparison of Cuban painting and photography and their
respective evolutions.

as any other in the contemporary period. Even though the inclusionof photography in thebook appears somewhat artificial,Libby's use of the

important

building process of Francoism.Marsh maintains voices heard bymim made their that subalterns
non-discursive or embodied practices such

The broad argument of thebook is ambi tious and thought-provoking. Through comedy, subalterns jeopardized the hegemonic nation

during

Francoism.

icking the dominant group discourse through

as

eating, drinking or

dressing. Thus, his reading

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