Identidades in English No 4, December 2014 | Page 80

From its inception, his art recreated ethno-popular myths that were part of a worldview that has
been classified as magical-religious.
(Figures 4a, 4b, 4c)

Fig. 4a. Manuel Mendive N/D
“Muchacha con Pavo real”.
[Girl with Peacock]
Engraving. Serigraph

Fig. 4b. Manuel Mendive
1978. N/T.
Painting. Oil on wood

Within this cosmovision, we have the creator of a
universe and very personal style: it is inhabited by
orishas, deities imbued with nature and illuminated by a prodigious imagination. The creator is
seen as a representative demiurge that has followed the signs of two key producers of Afro-Cuban art: Wifredo Lam (1902-1982) and Roberto
Diago (1920-1957).
Their poetic scheme has intertwined histories,
and illuminated pathways and interpretations of a
mythology of dark origin and skin: this can be
found in myriad places; from the trunk of a palm
tree and the pores of a canvas or cardboard, to the
incredibly sensitive and receptive surface of a human body. In this way, he recreated the ancient
tradition of dance and body decoration, through
body art, to reveal one more aspect of his multifaceted and prolific universe.
Negrismo was identified in the Cuban cultural
sphere with a set of proposals offered by a group
of black intellectuals and artists.
They stimulated a dialogue about the permanence
of racist practices and ideas in Cuban society.

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Their ideas were not in keeping with the ideology
espoused by the country’s cultural policies and
political propaganda
No analysis or debate about this issue was possi-

Fig. 4c. Manuel Mendive 1995
N/T. Painting.
Mixed technique on paper

ble at this time—it is never time—since no artist
wanted to ideologically challenge what the Revolution had extirpated from Cuba’s social practices—at least in the eyes of the world.
For those “in the know,” any application of these
ideas in any form at all was a folkloric and obscurantist expression
Anything Afro had to negotiate localisms. Imitation as a way to understand the Antillean emerged
in Cuban society under the physical influence of
the Black Panthers (established in Oakland, California in around 1966 by Bobby G. Seal and Huey
P. Newton) and long hair like the Beatles.
The ‘Grey Quinquennium’
There was persecution and rejection during the
‘Grey Quinquennium’ (1971-1976). José Fowler,
a sculptor and professor at the San Alejandro
Academy was not permitted to enter his classroom by order of the school’s Director.
The reason was his inappropriate hairstyle, a form
popularly known as the ‘spedrum’ or ‘hair drum,’
which was sported by civil rights activist Angela