Moncada - COR

Here's a very simple poster celebrating the 18th anniversary of the attack on the barracks at Moncada by the Cuban rebels on 26th July 1953, dating it to summer 1971. I don't know any other details about the poster other than it was produced for COR, the Comisión de Orientación Revolucionaria. This example has a water stain which adds to the charm.

Sao Paulo Sociedad Anonima - Oliva 1968

One of my favourite Cuban posters, Sao Paulo is for a classic of the Brazilian new wave. The film depicts an anonimous and difficult city life in Sao Paulo and paints a grim picture of life there. Thanks to Oliva's superb graphics which imitate Roy Lichtenstein's cartoon style this ICAIC poster is garish and dramatic, and it probably had a hard time conveying the negativity of the film.


Here's the opening scene:

Screenprinting at the ICAIC

I came across this short video of silkscreen poster production in progress at the ICAIC's facility in Havana.

Prop Art - Gary Yanker

Gary Yanker collected propaganda posters from the mid 1960s onwards and this collection of his posters is one of the best books if you're a fan of the genre. A massive tome, this book features 1,000 mostly black and white images of protest and propaganda posters from all over the world. Some classic Cuban posters are featured.

Gary is an obsessive collector - his short bio in the book mentions that he corresponded with over 500 agencies around the world to ask them for posters. In 1975 Gary donated all his posters to the Library of Congress. This is a great book for poster fans.

Revolución Cuban Poster Art - Lincoln Cushing

Lincoln's efforts to document Cuban posters puts him in the position of being the world's foremost expert on the country's primary graphic arts movement. His efforts to preserve the designs of the Cuban poster agencies have done what could never have been done in Cuba - both in terms of documenting and cataloging, and in sharing poster designs with a global audience.

In Cuba posters have been a tool of a political and cultural ideology that hasn't had the time, effort or resources to document its own work. Step in Lincoln and his associates who have photographed, re-touched, catalogued and shared Cuba's best graphic design. In the feature in Communication Arts magazine and this book, Lincoln's efforts are detailed and the result is the chance to see some very exciting posters. This book is essential.

For more info on the graphic arts visit Lincoln Cushing's Docs Populi page.

Tricontinental magazine - images of Che

Here's a sweet little booklet from OSPAAAL's Tricontinental magazine with around 25 posters featuring Che Guevara. Printed in Cuba, the paper is thin, the printing is a bit rough but as usual the images are great.

Elevando la Conciencia - 1974

This 1974 poster for the COR celebrates the anniversary of the triumph of the revolution with the famous image of the revolutionaries holding their weapons aloft against the Cuban flag, and a Soviet star.

Solidarity with Puerto Rico - Cordoba 1976

This great OSPAAAL poster by Rolando Cordoba is an example of the more funky Cuban pop art, borrowing its style from Western sports and pop music graphics. Puerto Rico's independence from the US was dealt a blow in the early 1970s as America took possession of more land and asserted its authority. Meanwhile the political struggle for independence continued with little success. This simple image of freedom for the common man illustrates Cuba's solidarity with the anti-imperialist movement.

Festival Internacional del Cine Joven - Reboiro 1970

Here's a nice simple poster from Reboiro making good use of his trademark geometric patterns and iconic blooming plant for a poster to promote the ICAIC's festival of children's cinema.

El Corte Verano - Azcuy 1968

El Corte Verano (Short is the Summer) is a Swedish love story set in the wilderness of Lapland. Various characters participate in love, jealously, tragedy and betrayal. I don't know the significance of Azcuy's psychedelic framing of the central character but it adds a very sixties twist to this unusual Cuban poster.

Cine Movil - Bachs 1969

A classic of classics of Cuban posters, this 1969 poster for the ICAIC's Cine Movil (Mobile Cinema) project is simplicity itself. Charlie Chaplin on wheels represents the mobile cinema - a lorry that travelled into the Cuban interior to show films to the campesinos. Bachs' poster for the ICAIC is great. Confident, fun and nicely childish. As a designer Bachs' preferred to produce posters for childrens' films and this is typical of his cheeky design ideas.

El Viento Distante - Bachs 1970

A Mexican experimental film with three directors and three parts sounds like a wacky idea but Bachs' poster for the ICAIC is restrained and formal with a proper typeface and simple three column layout. Once again his trademark use of simple colours and shapes define characters and make great use of silkscreen printing.

Nosotros - Reboiro 1977

Nosotros is a 1977 Cuban documentary by Luis Felipe Bernaza about the Cuban poet Regino Pedroso who I believe wrote a poem entitled The Freedom Train. Reboiro used a lot of technical drawings in his posters and this is typical of his mixture of the traditional and modern, mixing geometric shapes, bold colour and fine line drawing.

La Primera Carga al Machete - Oliva 1969

La Primera Carga al Machete (The First Charge of the Machete) is a Cuban documentary by Manuel Octavio Gómez that tells the story of the 1868 uprising against Spanish colonials. Although the message of the film is serious it uses cinematic experimentation and playful techniques to bring contemporary film making to the 19th century battle. It also uses wild hand held camera shots and an abstract style that can be hard work to watch.

Oliva's poster steals heavily from the San Francisco scene of the late 60s. Although American poster art was not officially available in Cuba the Cuban artists got hold of various publications that were passed round and appropriated. In this case Oliva's poster may have been a little bit too American in style as another version of this Cuban poster exists to promote the film in France. This is great though and its wild style really waves two fingers at the authorities.

Los Vengadores Incapturables - Bachs 1968

Edmond Keosaian's 1966 Soviet western Elusive Avengers (Неуловимые мстители) is a colour cult classic featuring a gang of four protecting a village from bandits. Working with silkscreen printing creates major limitations for artists, who find that having to stick to flat colours and simple shapes can be restrictive. As the Cuban poster artists grew into the medium they started to create work that made the most of the limitations. In this poster Bachs has used very simple shapes to create a vibrant image to represent the simple peasant dress of the film's characters. The artistic style and shape of the text is Bachs' trademark. Compare the Cuban poster to the Soviet original below - both contain the signature glasses and traditional Soviet winter hat.





Here's the opening five minutes, courtesy of YouTube:

Christ Guerrilla - Rostgaard 1969

This OSPAAAL poster by Alfredo Rostgaard is unusual for a number of reasons. It is originally a painting that mimics religious iconography through its use of classical and renaissance artistic techniques. This is Christ, framed with a gold leaf halo, carrying a rifle - the ultimate revolutionary, a true believer. What is a surprise is the use of Christ as an icon for the Cuban revolution. Castro and the Cuban Government were very anti-religion, even banning the celebration of Christmas day from 1969. Once again though this is a very confident graphical statement and a great poster. Face detail below.

Brigade Venceremos - Reboiro 1969

This is a very rare poster designed by Antonio Reboiro in 1969 to promote the Brigade Venceremos in the US. The Brigade Venceremos - "young Americans sharing the life and work of revolutionary Cuba" - was part of the Cuban effort to find sources of labour. Reboiro designed this poster to look like an American hippie poster. He succeeded in capturing the psychedelic style but again this is typically Cuban. This poster was produced in very small numbers to be distributed in the USA. Venceremos means "we will be victorious".

Solidarity with Africa - Forjans 1969

Another African statue by Jesus Forjans for OSPAAAL. This striking image of powerful traditional warrior is set against a background of modern weapons. Another dramatic OSPAAAL poster and typical of the late 1960s as Cuban artists moved away from photography based posters to a vibrant and very confident style.

Solidarity with Zimbabwe - Forjans 1973

This is a great image and a nice mixture of the traditional and the modern. Here Jesus Forjans' african statue is equipped with an AK47, the symbol of revolutionary freedom, set against the OSPAAAL logo. At its best, Cuban poster art uses some of the simplest ideas to create some of the most striking designs. This is economic in its message but very powerful. The statue represents the power and tradition of the Zimbabwean people in the struggle for independence from Great Britain.

Nixon in Vietnam - Mederos 1971

René Mederos has combined playful graphics, photo montage and an element of surrealism to create this sinister, dramatic image of Nixon as a bird of prey ripping the heart out of North Vietnam and Laos. The bird has the look of a Nazi-era eagle.

Go American GI - Rostgaard 1971

Mad pop art stylings from Alfredo Rostgaard make this poster one of my favourites. His crazy use of cartoon graphics and colour bely the seriousness of the message. The monstrous American GI is controlled by the capitalist. 1971 is the mid-point of the Vietnam war and a time when the American war machine was in overdrive. Massive spending and major escalation was becoming less focused and more desperate. I have included detail of the face below. As you can see, this poster has heavy creasing.

El Salvador - Luisvega 1973

The film El Salvador (The Saviour or Le Sauveur) is French, set in 1943 and features a young girl who harbours a foreign solder who she thinks is English. On being captured by the Nazis she discovers that the soldier is actually German. The film plays out the corruption of innocence against a backdrop of World War II. The half tone head and bright halo are nice touches of colour in this otherwise stark black poster.

Primero Dejar de Ser - Mederos 1968

This is a text only poster by artist Rene Mederos. Although stylistically this is very simple it still manages to look good. Translation: Better not to be, than not to be revolutionary.

Mas Revolucion

Mas Revolucion (More Revolution) is a text only poster proclaiming war on a variety of imperialist traits - vice, egoism, exploitation, individualism, etc. Compared to a lot of Cuban posters this is very restrained but it still makes great use of scrapbook style cartoon font - once again a playful and fun style for a serious message.

I don't know the date, the agency that issued this or the artist. I suspect Bachs but similar font style turns up in posters by a number of artists.

Interview with Reese Erlich

Reese Erlich is an independent journalist, reporter and radio producer. For four decades he has documented world politics and events from a liberal perspective. He is a jazz enthusiast, former University of California at Berkeley (where he was suspended for organising anti-Vietnam War demonstrations) student and an outspoken member of the San Francisco counter-culture movement of the 1960s. His books include Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You (co-authored with Normon Solomon) and The Iran Agenda: The Real Story of U.S. Policy and The Middle East Crisis. He has travelled extensively in Cuba and has written about and reported on the country's political and social situation.

I first came across his name in Ramparts Magazine's feature on Cuban posters. The magazine, published in 1968, contains the first mention of Cuban posters outside Cuba and the article features some great designs. Although the article is by Dugald Stermer, who was art director at the time and would go on to write the classic book on Cuban posters, a footnote mentions that the posters are from the collection of Reese Erlich. I asked him how he came by the posters:

"In 1968, at 21, I travelled to Cuba as a reporter for Ramparts magazine, with a group of students to experience the country. At the time the embargo prevented travel directly from the US to Cuba so we had to fly to Mexico City then on to Havana. In Cuba, I saw these incredible posters all over the place promoting solidarity, movies, plays and cultural events."

Hailing from San Francisco Reese was impressed by the Cuban's appropriation of artistic styles. "They had it all going on. Pop art, op art. They were using so many artistic styles, some of it like the Fillmore and Avalon posters that I saw at home." The Cuban government used the poster, and public art generally, as the primary medium for conveying the message of the revolution. "I was impressed at how beautiful and funky the art was, and how different to political graphics from the Soviet Union and other [socialist] countries."





Public art in Cuba mixed socialist ideology with funky graphics. Two images from 1970 and 1971 showing examples of political graphics in Havana.

During the trip Reese visited the poster workshops of the ICAIC and OSPAAAL and although his memory of the trip is hazy he remembers the atmosphere. "They were staffed by enthusiastic people in their 20s, very busy and with a real sense of purpose." He also encountered in the young revolutionaries an interest in the US. "Where I was asking them all about the politics of Cuba they were very keen for me to tell them about the situation in the US."



A 1966 speech by Fidel in Plaza de la Revolution in Havana. Note the Soviet style graphics which were soon to be replaced by a distinctly Cuban style.

In 1968 Cuba's revolution was nine years old. Major changes had taken place and the country was becoming reliant on Soviet support. Reese was a fan of the country: "I had a very romantic view of Cuba. Even though I was only 21 I had a world view. Here was a country that had actually had a revolution. And it was a cool revolution." Although the revolution had made big claims and Fidel was in the midst of a drive for a record sugar harvest Reese noticed a number of problems in Cuba. "There were shortages even then. The stores had very little for sale and if you went to buy something and it wasn't in the store you did what the Cubans did and came back tomorrow."



A 1968 parade in Cuba shows the revolution's typically fun use of images. Note the massive political mural in the background.

Reese collected a number of posters direct from the workshops before returning to the US. He showed his boss at Ramparts magazine Dugald Stermer who was impressed at the quality of the posters and put the article together. A year later in 1969 Dugald Stermer and Susan Sontag wrote the classic Art of Revolution which featured 96 of Cuba's best posters. I spoke to Stermer some time ago and he told me that he left the posters that were used for the book with the book's publishers, from where they have disappeared. Luckily Reese still owns the posters he collected. "In the past I have had them on my walls in my apartment but now they are in a portfolio. Maybe it's time to get them out and look at them again."





Layouts from Ramparts magazine featuring Reese's collection.

Reese Erlich is now researching and writing his next book, Dateline Havana, which looks at his 40 years of reporting from Cuba. It will be published in the U.S. in January 2009.

OSPAAAL - The Art of Solidarity

OSPAAAL The Art of Solidarity is my research bible. It lists every OSPAAAL poster, many of them in colour, by year and with details of the artists where they are known. The book was published in Italy with help from Dan Walsh and Lincoln Cushing of the Cuba Poster Project and assistance from the Havana National Library and Editora Politica. A vital book, a great reference tool, and a collection of beautiful images. A classic book for Cuban posters.

Alfredo Rostgaard - Wikipedia

I wrote a short bio on Alfredo Rostgaard, a key Cuban poster artist, for Wikipedia. Here's the original text which I'll try to improve once I have more time.

Alfredo Rostgaard is a Cuban graphic designer and artist. He is one of the leading designers of revolutionary Cuban film and political posters through his work for the Instituto Cubano de Arte e Industria Cinematográfico, Organisation for Solidarity with the People of Africa, Asia and Latin America, Casa de las Americas, Comisión de Orientación Revolucionaria and other Cuban agencies. Rostgaard's work has been exhibited worldwide and he has received a number of awards and recognition for his designs. Referencing pop art and psychedelic poster art, Rostgaard's work also includes figurative painting and Warhol-esq commercial graphics. The majority of his designs are playful and fun, a product of the artist's ability to incorporate a sense of humour into sometimes very serious subjects. He is one of the most prolific of the revolutionary designers that contributed to Cuba's massive output of posters during the mid 60s to mid 70s. Born in Guantanamo in 1943 Rostgaard studied at the Jose Joaquin Tejada school of art in Santiago de Cuba. In 1963 he was appointed artistic director of Mella, the magazine of the union of young communists. He also acted as caricaturist for the magazine where he learnt to mix humour and politics. After arriving in Havana in 1965 he began designing posters for the ICAIC and became artistic director of OSPAAAL in 1966 where he resided for nine years. From 1975 he worked for UNIAC, the Union of Cuban Artists. As well as posters he has also designed book and magazine covers and layouts. Rostgaard's work has been widely exhibited and he has won a number of awards for his designs. Rostgaard died in Havana on December 27 2004.

Solidarity with Japan - Menéndez 1969

Here's a great design for OSPAAAL from Guillermo Mendéndez for a poster for the day of solidarity with the Japanese people. It's a busy but stunning design using both photography and an unusual collection of shapes and colours. August 6th is the day of the bombing of Hiroshima. This is a rare Cuban poster.

Illuminacion Intima - Nico 1968

Illuminacion Intima (Intimate Lighting or Intimni Osvetleni) is a classic of the Czech New Wave from 1965 and focuses on life in a small village where music is a preoccupation. Through a number of loosely connected comedy scenes the men of the film neglect their wives due to their obsession with music. This is another confident and colourful silkscreen from Nico.

Golgota - Nico 1968

Golgota is a Romanian film from 1966. And that is all I know about it. Nico's 1968 poster for the ICAIC is great but doesn't give much away about the film.

El Gran Robo del Tren de San Trinian - Bachs 1968

El Gran Robo del Tren de San Trinian (The St Trinians Great Train Robbery) is a 1966 British comedy about the pupils of a girls school who thwart the attempts by the great train robbers to recover the loot from their heist, which happens to be stashed in the girls' school building. Bachs' 1968 ICAIC silkscreen poster is a classic with simple but effective cartoon graphics and his trademark homemade text.


This poster is printed on brown paper rather than the usual white.

1 Mayo - Dimas 1973

This 1973 poster for the ICAIC is unusual in that it is not for a film but for the 1 May celebrations - Labour Day and a celebration of the revolution marked by long speeches, revolutionary songs and a parade in Havana and other Cuban towns and cities. This is a simple and fun poster by little know artist Dimas.


Here's a YouTube clip of the recent 1 May celebrations in Havana:

El Azote de Dios - Bachs 1968

El Azote de Dios (God's Whip or Bicz Bozy) is a 1967 Polish comedy. Regular ICAIC designer Bachs has gone for a very crazy cartoon style with this poster with the text at jagged angles and a lot of playful graphics.



Here's the original Polish poster for comparison:

Apartheid - 1967

Another early poster from OSPAAAL, in this case raising awareness of the cruelty of South Africa's Apartheid movement. The stark black and white image is highly appropriate for the black and white politics of the regime. Cuba is a long supporter of Mandela and since the early days of the revolution has called for the end of Apartheid.

Day of the Heroic Guerrilla - Serrano 1968

In Cuba 8th October is the Day of the Heroic Guerrilla and commemorates the revolutionary life of Che Guevara, executed by the CIA on October 9th 1967. This poster is vibrant, dramatic, colourful and celebratory. Che had only been dead a year and already he was becoming an icon, a symbol of the revolution and deified as the romantic freedom fighter. This is an early example of the use of Korda's famous cropped photograph of Che. Designer Elena Serrano has used pop art stylings to merge the legend with the Latin America that the Cuban leaders believed would eventually succumb to similar revolutions.

Solidarity with Laos

Another photography-based and very early OSPAAAL poster highlighting the plight of Laos as it was caught up in the Vietnam conflict. The USA began bombing the country and supported the South Vietnamese army's invasion that led to a series of coups. This poster was issued before the US started a massive bombing campaign in the early 70s.

Congo L - Forjans 1968

In 1960 the Republic of Congo achieved independence from Belgium and began a move towards socialism. In the mid-sixties Prime Minister Patrick Lumumba became involved in a struggle with the chief of the armed forces Joseph Mobutu. With the military receiving funds from the US and Belgium Mobutu had the strength to mount a coup. Lumumba was eventually executed. This a dramatic photographic image of a fighter. Typical of OSPAAAL posters this 1968 poster romanticises armed struggle in the name of socialism. Congo-L refers to Congo-Léopoldville - the name of the territory once ruled by Belgium.

Day of Solidarity with Zimbabwe - 1967

This is a simple poster from OSPAAAL highlighting Zimbabwe's struggle for independence from Great Britain. At the time the country was called Rhodesia so OSPAAAL's use of its African name is significant. Artist unknown.

Nixon - Rostgaard 1972

Here's another nice folding poster from OSPAAAL, again designed by Alfredo Rostgaard. In this case the subject is Nixon, depicted as politician on one side of this poster. When the poster is folded out Nixon, the key protagonist in the escalation of the Vietnam war, is revealed as a vampire. This is a very wild and colourful poster, referencing the psychedelia of Peter Max and the pop artists.

Black Panther - Rostgaard 1968

This very rare OSPAAAL folding poster designed by Alfredo Rostgaard once again uses playful graphics to highlight a very serious issue. The Black Panthers were clearly bulletproof and would fight back if attacked. A simple message of support for the Black Panthers from the Cuban government. The poster opens and unfolds to reveal the panther's roar.

Cinameteca de Cuba - Morante 1985

Cinemateca de Cuba is the Cuban film festival. For the twenty fifth anniversary of the first event in 1960 the original poster was re-issued with subtle differences. Chaplin in red and the script in silver ink. Rafael Morante is the artist and his use of Chaplin, the island's icon of film, depicted in the simplest of shapes is restrained and classy.

Tierra En Trance - Reboiro 1968

I love this ICAIC film poster. It is erie and unusual. Reboiro's mysterious halftone print eye creates a very different mood to most Cuban film posters. Tierra en Trance (Earth Entranced or Terra em Transe) is a Brazilian film about bourgeois corruption. It tells the story of a conflict between popular governor and right wing dictator in Eldorado using wild camerawork.


Here's a YouTube clip of the film:

Hotel Para Extraneros - Niko 1969

Niko's colourful ICAIC poster for the Czech film Hotel Para Extraneros (Hotel for Strangers or Hotel Pro Cizince) features a troubled character injured and crying out. The film reconstructs the diary of a murdered man using fantasy, symbolism and shifting time. Typical of the Czech new wave the film examines the pressure on an individual that does not conform and which ultimately leads to death.

El Quid - Rostgaard 1967

El Quid (The Quid - English slang for a pound or The Knack (UK title)) is a British film about picking up hip chicks in swinging 60s London. Rostgaard nailed the design, which is simple and cool with just a hint of raunchiness.


Here's the original trailer on YouTube:

El Hijo Prodigo - Bachs 1969

A poster from Bachs that references the style of Polish movie posters, El Hijo Prodigo (Return of the Prodigal Son) is feature examining the soul of a man who attempts suicide. Bachs Cuban poster for the ICAIC centres on the man and his desire for flight or escape represented by the butterfly. The Polish poster featured below has almost the same visual idea of a dark character with bright colourful wings.

Viento Negro - Bachs 1968

With lots of bold colour and a very confident cartoon style this is typical of Bachs style in the late 60s. This ICAIC silkscreen is for a Mexican film about a group of men trying to prevent the railroad being built in the desert. The main character is the mayor played by David Reynoso is depicted in the poster.

The Cuban Image - Michael Chanan

Michael, who used to lecture at my old college, has written a deceptively small book with a lot of detail about Cuban films. He describes how the ICAIC came to make silkscreens through the nationalisation of a graphic studio and print facility and, in turn, spawned a flourishing art scene. Chanan describes the unique Cuban combination of politics and artistic expression with enthusiasm and with incredible detail. His knowledge and level of research about film and its place in revolutionary Cuba is incredible. There are very few poster images but the text is comprehensive.

Memories of Underdevelopment The Revolutionary Films of Cuba - Michael Myerson

The book that contains the full screenplay of the film of the title also includes some black and white images of ICAIC posters and a very short essay linking Cuban poster art to pop art and referencing Peter Max. Myerson also compares Cuban poster art to the dry socialist realism of other communist states.

Nhung Una Muchacha de Saigon - Reboiro 1975

Another Reboiro poster and another star, in this case the star from the Vietnam flag producing a flower. Nhung Una Muchacha de Saigon (Nhung, a Young Girl From Saigon) is a 1970 film about a young girl that volunteers to fight with the Viet Cong as part of the Tet Offensive. Once again the poster is pretty and playful belying the subject matter of the film.

El Sol no se Puede Tapar con un Dedo - Reboiro 1977

El Sol no se Puede Tapar con un Dedo (The Sun Cannot be Covered by a Finger) is a 1976 short documentary by prolific Cuban director Santiago Alvarez. The ICAIC poster is typical of 70s Reboiro posters featuring highly symmetrical work, and rainbow colours. A nice poster but I have no idea what the documentary is about, or the significance of the star.

Exposicion de la Habana '68

This poster from the cultural agency Casa de las Americas was issued to promote the 1968 Exposicion, an exhibition of contemporary art. The '68 show featured work by lithographer and poster artist Rafael Zarza González and painter Juan Moreira.
This poster is in very poor condition and the silkscreened ink is very fragile, but that's part of its charm. I don't know the artist but the art nouveau style is great.

El Muro - Oliva 1968

Oliva's poster El Muro (The Wall or Le Mur in French) for ICAIC uses a dramatic image to depict the existential struggle at the centre of the film of one of Jean Paul Satre's short stories. The film is lost in obscurity but the story concerns the firing squad wall as metaphor for mental barriers. My poster has cracked in the corner and is held together by tape from behind.

Tropico - Bachs 1970

Gianni Amico's Tropico (Tropics or Tropici in Italian) is a fictional 1968 film portraying the injustice of working conditions in Brazil and the plight of the country's underclass. Bach's 1970 poster for the ICAIC features sinister and dramatic artwork using gold tributaries in the mind of the mind of the nearly faceless peasant.

Solidarity with the Peoples of Latin America - 1969

Issued in different languages this 1969 OSPAAAL poster calls for an independent Latin America and highlights the plight of millions of children that live in poverty. The powerful image is shown in negative. Artist unknown.

COR - Cuban Flag

This poster from the The Comisión de Orientación Revolucionaria (COR) translates as "they may be able to sink our boats, but not our conscience or our flag". I don't have any information about this poster but it is a great bold use of the Cuban flag - very in your face.

Guinea - Rostgaard 1971

In this poster Rostgaard has used a map of Guinea and image of Guinea's president Ahmed Sékou Touré to create a dramatic poster for OSPAAAL. Guinea was the first French African country to gain independence and under the leadership of Ahmed Sékou Touré followed broadly socialist and anti-colonial principles. From the late 60s to the mid 70s Guinea resisted French imperialism and possible CIA interference making it a natural ally of Cuba's solidarity movement.

Lenin - Rostgaard 1970

This poster is a great example of the Cuban design aesthetic, taking a very serious subject and creating a wild, funky and psychedelic design with it. Rostgaard told me that he was trying to emulate the look of The Beatles' artwork with this poster. What is striking about the Cuban regime is that designers were allowed to be so playful with such serious subjects. In the Soviet Union turning Lenin into an extra from The Yellow Submarine could have had you sent to the Gulag. In Cuba it was just the way that poster designers celebrated the icons of communism.

The OSPAAAL logo

The Organisation of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America or Organización de Solidaridad con los Pueblos de Asia, África y América Latina is a Cuban political agency set up to disseminate the ideology of the Cuban Revolution. It was set up in the wake of the 1966 Tricontinental Conference in Cuba in 1966 and spreads its left leaning message via Tricontinental magazine. OSPAAAL's posters were distributed with the magazine. A number of Cuba's best designers have produced posters for the agency.
OSPAAAL's logo is particularly striking. It uses a dramatic angular design with outstretched arm clenching a gun set against a globe. I do not know who designed the logo but it still looks good 40 years after its creation.

Now! - Forjans 1967

Now! The rallying cry of the civil rights movement in the USA. It was also the title of the 1965 Cuban Documentary that featured images and footage of white oppression in the southern states of the US. This powerful poster by Jesus Forjans for OSPAAAL uses a very famous image of defiance and is a reminder of Cuba's support for racial and social equality.

Angela Davis - Rostgaard 1972

In 1970 Angela Davis, Communist Party member, radical and sympathiser of the black power movement that included the Black Panthers, was captured by police. Accused of being an accomplice to an attempted Black Panther escape attempt she was held until 1972 when she was tried and acquitted.

There were a number of Cuban posters celebrating the Black Panthers, and supporting the American civil rights movement. This 1972 poster by Alfredo Rostgaard celebrating Davis' release is typical of Cuban artists' reliance on visual techniques, lacking explanatory text. For such a major event (Davis arrived in Cuba to a rapturous welcome soon after her release) the lack of bright colour in this poster is a surprise.

When I visited Rostgaard in Cuba a few years ago he showed me a lot of his recent work that featured sprayed ink but this is the only poster I have seen that uses the technique.

Crimenes Sin Castigo - Nico 1969

Crimenes Sin Castigo (Crimes Without Punishment) is, I think, a 1966 Japanese film Nihon Rhetto that focuses on corruption and black market activities among the American army based in Japan. This would explain the 1969 poster's dollar signs and the use of figures that appear trapped within the framework of currency. By all accounts the film is a bit crap but the poster is nice. Another bold design from Nico.

Ukamau - Raymundo 1968

Ukamau is a film by Bolivian director Jorge Sanjines that tells the story of a peasant that exacts revenge on a rich land owner for the rape of his wife. Sanjines is part of Bolivia's militant anti-imperialist film making tradition that swept the country following the 1952 revolution there. The subject matter and political aesthetic of the film would have appealed to the Cuban revolutionary spirit.

The poster itself is unadventurous compared to some of the bolder posters of the late 60s. Raymundo isn't a prolific artist and the colours are quite muted in this poster with no figurative design. I'm tempted to link the abstract shapes in the poster to the rape that is central to the film but I'll leave that to the reader.

Les Puños en el Bolsillo - Bachs 1968

Les Puños en el Bolsillo (Fists in the Pocket or I Pugni in Tasca in Italian) is a 1965 film by Italian director Marco Bellocchio. The film concerns a disturbed young man who murders members of his family. Bachs' interpretation of the film as as simple as it gets - murder in the mind. This is very wild and colourful poster using the Orbit font and allowing parts of the words to spill over onto the next line in the title, a common feature of Cuban posters. Notice the spillage of blue ink onto the nose of the face.


Here's a You Tube clip of the film:

El Gallo De Oro - Nico 1969

El Gallo De Oro (The Golden Rooster) is a 1964 Mexican film about cock fighting. The text on the poster is typical Bachs, with his trademark style but the crazy colours and cartoonish graphical interpretation of the subject matter in this case is by Nico. The image is clearly of roosters, presented with a touch of Picasso. Nico manages to capture the aggression of fighting roosters in a crazy cartoon aesthetic. A nice poster from 1969.


Here's a musical number from the film:

Fausto XX - Reboiro 68

A nice colourful ICAIC poster with touches of psychedelic Art Nouveau and religious overtones by Reboiro. This 1968 poster is for Faust XX, a 1966 Romanian film by Ion Popescu-Gopo who is generally known for his animation. I think this film is live action rather than animation but I can't confirm this. The plot, a comedic re-telling of the Faust legend, revolves around a professor who sells his soul to the devil.

Adelaida de Juan - Pintura Cubana

Adelaida de Juan's Cuban published book - Pintura Cubana: Temas y Variaciones (Cuban Painting, Themes and Variations) is a rare Spanish language classic featuring the artistic output of Cuban artists during the revolution. Published in Havana in 1976 it is full of black and white images of great posters with a detailed history of Cuban artistic production. The book includes some very rare poster art.

Cubaanse Affiches

Cubaanse Affiches (Cuban Posters) is a neat little book issued by the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in 1971 to accompany its exhibition of posters. This is a very comprehensive and colourful book for what must have been a superb event. The text is in English and Dutch and the quality of posters is excellent. A range of very rare examples are included including the posters documenting the attempts to harvest a record crop of sugar.

Massenkunst in Kuba

Massenkunst in Kuba (Mass Media in Cuba) is a superb German language book covering Cuba's public media. Published by left leaning Elefanten Press in 1978 it documents Cuba's revolutionary imagery including its posters. Probably the most comprehensive book on Cuba's state sponsored media. Of course, I can't read it as it's entirely in german. Great images of some of the key posters of the time and descriptions of most of the poster producing agencies.

Cuba En La Graphica

A quality book published in Italy in 1991, Cuba En La Graphica is a document of the Cuban poster from the early 60s to the late 80s. It features a single page for each poster with minimal text for each. The posters featured all seem to be from colour photographs of the posters in situ. Around 100 posters are featured with a short intro by Alejo Carpentier and Reyna Maria Valdes, who quotes Adelaida de Juan and Susan Sontag.

Posters of Protest and Revolution

Posters of Protest and Revolution, selected by Maurice Rickards is a hardback issued by Walker and Co in 1970. I collect books about protest posters and this is one of the better ones. Sadly for Cuban poster collectors it just has this double page spread of images, but what great images. The book also has an essay on protest posters in which Rickards points to the beauty of the Cuban political poster and how radically different it is to other socialist counties' output. Seek this book out if you love protest posters.

Cine Cubano

The Cuban-published journal of film Cine Cubano has been issued sporadically since the 60s. Mostly it's black and white, text heavy and a little rough round the edges. The reproduction of photos and images shows the limitations of the equipment available in Cuba. These three issues all feature articles on Cuban posters.

Issued in 1973, Cine Cubano 86/87/88 includes El Cartel Lo Util y Lo Bello (The Poster, Useful and Beautiful) by Marisol Trujillo. It reviews a number of late 60s posters, some of which are very wild. The images are all black and white and the text is in Spanish but there are a lot of great posters featured over 20 pages.












Cine Cubano 95 celebrates 20 years of Cuban cinema and features an article by Manuel Lopez Oliva reviewing the Cuban film poster. The 12 page piece includes some poor quality black and white reproductions of some classic posters and few rare examples.







Cine Cubano 100 features a number of colour reproductions of Cuban posters, mostly issued in the 80s. No text.

Communication Arts Sep/Oct 1994

The design journal Communication Arts featured an article by Philip Krayna entitled The Cuban Poster crisis. It focuses on the work of Daniel Walsh and Lincoln Cushing, co-founders of the Cuba Poster Project and their efforts to document Cuba's posters. Following a successful legal action against the US Treasury department to allow the import of printed materials from Cuba the duo spent time with designers and poster agencies in Cuba.

The Cuba Poster Project aims to document and preserve Cuban poster art. The article examines the remit of each of the poster producing agencies and talks about Cushing and Walsh's visits to the archives of the ICAIC and other agencies. The pair express their concern about the Cubans' poor archiving conditions and highlight the lack of materials as a barrier to further production.

This is a very comprehensive article, covering the work of one of the highest profile Cuban poster archivers. The high quality images are a speciality of Lincoln Cushing, who takes the utmost care in photographing and digitally restoring these images.

Graphis no 151 1970/71

As part of issue 151 of Graphis, the international journal of graphic and applied art, is Anton Meier's article on Cuban posters, written in 1970. The feature has very little information, mentioning the main poster producing agencies including the Comision de Orientation Revolucionario (COR) and its art director Felix Beltran. What this article does have is great posters, some reproduced in colour, over six pages.

Ramparts Magazine Volume 7, no 9, December 1968

Counter culture publication Ramparts printed the first article on Cuban posters in 1968. Dugald Stermer, who went on to write the classic book The Art of Revolution: 96 Posters from Cuba, provided six pages of text and images with a short overview and brief outlines of the function of the main poster producing agencies ICAIC, OSPAAAL and Casa de Las Americas.

Dugald is clearly impressed with the vibrant and colourful Cuban style, comparing it favourably to socialist realism. He talks about the artists, at the time in their mid twenties, as a collective working within the confines of government yet displaying artistic freedom that rivals the best of the world's graphic design.

Stermer's overview of the ICAIC's posters, although brief, discusses the technically savvy silkscreen posters that use up to 10 colours and are produced in production runs of up to 500. His enthusiasm for OSPAAAL's work is infectious and he points to rock posters, Czech film posters and pop and op art as sources for their designs. A short piece on Casa de Las Americas focuses on the country's cultural activities.

This is a short article but it covers all the key poster producing agencies and some of their best posters are reproduced in colour. Reese Erlich is cited as the owner of the posters. He is a California-based political author and journalist.

Cuban documentaries

Browsing YouTube I came across a few Cuban documentaries produced in the heyday of the ICAIC, Cuba's film institute. The posters for these documentaries have been much reproduced and are very familiar to any collector of Cuban film posters. As with a lot of Cuban posters it is striking how bright and colourful the poster images are in comparison to the reportage style of the documentaries. Of course, the films are black and white but they are also serious, designed to function as a tool of the revolution.

Here are three very famous Cuban films. The first, Por Primera Vez (For the First Time) deals with the revolutionary Cine Movil (Mobile Cinema), a truck with projector and screen that travelled to remote areas of Cuba and showed films in campesino communities that had no exposure to cinema. The film delights in showing the reactions of local children to the visual humour of Charlie Chaplin.

Por Primera Vez:


Santiago Alvarez' Now is a montage of images and footage of the American civil rights movement of the early 60s. It is a powerful film, set to Lena Horne's jazz classic Now. Made in 1965 it is simple and effective in its message, lacking the sophistication and subtleties of modern film making. However as simple anti-American propaganda it works well.

Now:


Alvarez's 79 Primaveras (79 Springs) is a Cuban documentary with touches of the surreal. A biography of Ho Chi Minh illustrated through montaged imagery including blooming flowers and violent footage from the Vietnam war including Vietnamese patrols under attack amid images of life during the war. It features sequences of Minh's life and funueral as well as violent torture and battle scenes. The editing style is made up of angular cuts, splicing and maniuplation that conjure up dischord and violence that isn't present in the footage. It is a brave film with no voiceover and a soviet-esq focus on juxtaposed images and editing.

79 Primaveras (extract):


And the three posters that were used to let the Cuban public know about these films are Por Primera Vez (Bachs), Now! (Rostgaard) and 79 Primaveras (Rostgaard):

Lagrimas En El Lago - Oliva 1968

Lagrimas en el Lago (Tears in the Lake / Umi no koto) is a Japanese film about a young girl who's love life turns bad when her lover is drafted into the army and she is seduced by an older man. She eventually drowns herself in sorrow. This 1968 poster makes great use of only three colours and is typical of Raul Oliva's work during the late 60s for the ICAIC that references the San Fransisco style. The Japanese girl is set in a work that imitates the psychedelic art of the great Fillmore posters, which in turn were paying homage to art nouveau.