A Cuban mythology - Art Nouveau architecture in Cuba

UNESCO Courier, August, 1990 by Enrique Capablanca

A Cuban mythology

Most of the masons, stonecutters, blacksmiths, carpenters and other craftsmen who came from overseas and settled in Cuba between 1902 and 1930 were of Spanish, mainly Catalan, origin. They brought with them their traditions, styles and techniques, and it would be hard to overemphasize their role in the development of Cuban Art Nouveau. At first the new trend was even known by its Catalan Name, Modernismo, and only several decades after its introduction did the expression "Art Nouveau" come into use.

Although the direct Catalan influence was undeniable, young local architects and craftsman were avid readers of foreign periodicals which made them familiar with the main currents of Art Nouveau and its variants. However, distance tended to blur perceptions of the new style, which was often modified through contact with another world and a different architectural tradition.

Because of a failure to clearly understand the nature of the movement, any building heavily decorated with flowers and garlands was initially described as Art Nouveau. Most of these buildings were actually a compromise betwen the new aesthetic and finde-siecle eclecticism, which sometimes worked surprisingly well. But the features and forms characteristic of the new style were soon recognized and began to appear in the streets of Havana and other major towns, especially in private residences. Art Nouveau motifs were rarely seen in public buildings, perhaps because the style was considered too frivolous to represent the young republic in an appropriate fashion.

Cuban Art Nouveau is heavily indebted to French, Belgian, Italian and Catalan models. But it also has its own originality. European influences were rapidly assimilated because they had certain affinities with Cuban culture. Composite arches, dynamic curves, a taste for coloured ceramics and glass, and elaborately-wrought ironwork, were long-established features of the Cuban architectural heritage.

Like many of its European models, the Cuban variant of Art Nouveau is a blend of styles, and it is not unusual to see neo-Gothic, neo-Mudejar and other historicist elements amicably rubbings shoulders in many Cuban Art Nouveau buildings. Another characteristics is the use of sculpted animal and human forms, as well as plant motifs, to depict a kind of mythology unique to Havana.

The popularity of Art Nouveau in Cuba was not due to a small number of architects, but to a multitude of craftsman who worked in the building trade and created architectural features which were then mass produced and used on hundreds of facades all over the island.

Some of these building contractors were so successful that Art Nouveau was soon regarded as a specialty of master masons and consequently as a minor form of architecture. The next step was to disparage the movement, and it was taken in the 1920s when art historians and critics dismissed it as exaggereated and decadent. Architects concerned about their reputation began to turn their backs on Art Nouveau, and some of those who had contributed to its rise turned towards more classical and conventional styles.

ENRIQUE CAPABLANCA, Cuban architect and sculptor, is a staff member of the National Centre of Conservation, Restoration and Museology, Cuba, and teaches at the University of Havana.