The children of William Tell: A brief essay on Cuban art generations

Abstract

IThis essay is a brief summary of the dissertation of the Master in Science of
Art, de-fended at the Fluminense Federal University in 2001. The paper gives
an introduction to the study of Cuban artistic generations to focus its attention
on the "Generation of the Eighties", a group which influenced the development
of contemporary art of Cuba in the last two decades of the 20th century. This
investigation comprehends a wide view of the Cuban cultural evolution through
its recent history. There is a novel approach to the inner works of a generation
that had the audacity to defy state’s dogmas, accepted as normal by public
opinion, while maintaining its identity with the social and political doctrines
enforced by the state. Out of this process came a group of artists proposing to
unlock doors and tear down walls, and could open windows wide enough to be
recognized by Cubans and worldwide as a new artistic phenomenon. These
artists included among their goals an unrestricted discussion on extra-artistic
problems related with social and political questions, but avoided the banality
and the propagandistic diffusion of their ideas. It was a Generation, shaped by
a historical moment, that could define their objectives and ideals, and was able
to conquer a social and cultural position. It was a Generation that focused on
another side of Cuban politics: taking as the starting point the myth of the "new
man", these artists brought to a relevant place, and from a new point of view, an
open debate about the rights of new generations born within Cuban Revolution.