Coming Attraction: Cuban Movie Posters
From the Collection of Merrill C. Berman
April 5 - May 12, 2012
I N T E R N AT I O N A L P R I N T C E N T E R N E W Y O R K
508 West 26th Street 5th Floor NYC 10001 • 212-989-5090 • www.ipcny.org
Coming Attraction: Cuban Movie Posters
from the Collection of Merrill C. Berman
Artists’ List:
Eduardo Muñoz Bachs, Raúl Oliva Baluja, Réne Azcuy Cárdenas, Luis Vega De
Castro, Fors, Antonio Pérez (Niko) González, Nestor, Julio Eloy Pérez Mesa,
Antonio Fernández Reboiro, Alfredo Gonzålez Rostgaard.
The Exhibition
The Cuban Revolution and Fidel Castro’s ascent to power in 1959 overturned
the art world of Havana, ushering in a revolution in the world of graphic design.
Prior to the Castro years, Cuban film posters were very similar to their Hollywood
counterparts, with star-studded imagery and action-packed compositions
designed to market a particular film. With the revolution and the departure
of many established artists from Cuba, a new generation of graphic designers
emerged. Coming Attraction: Cuban Movie Posters from the Collection of Merrill C.
Berman documents this new movement in Cuban graphic design, presenting
a selection of posters commissioned by the newly formed Cuban government
from these innovative young artists, most of whom were under thirty.
Transcending a purely commercial purpose, these designers turned the film
poster into an art form in itself.
One of the first institutions founded by the new Cuban government, the Instituto
Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematografico, or Cuban Institute on Cinematic Arts
and Industry (ICAIC), launched in March of 1959, only eighty-three days after the Revolution. Its purpose was to foster the use of art in the service of
social improvement through the production and promotion of films; to that end
it sponsored the creation of a unique poster for each film that it promoted—
whether made or, in the case of a foreign film, distributed in Cuba. The
ICAIC program was part of a broader state effort in which a remarkable
10,000 posters were commissioned addressing various cultural, social and political themes. The pace of production was so fast that at one point, some of
the more prominent artists were designing a poster every week.
In contrast to the mass-produced posters used to advertise films in the United
States, their Cuban counterparts are hand-printed silkscreens. They are essentially
uniform in size so that they could be mounted on special kiosks on the streets
of Havana. Varying in subject matter, they are colorful and playful, with eyecatching graphics and symbolic imagery-- now described as “Revolutionary
Cuban Style.” The production of posters continues today, and film posters
are offered for sale at various venues around Havana.
This exhibition highlights the unique character of Cuban graphic design from
the 1960s to the 1980s. Rarely exhibited, this group of prints stands in cheerful
contrast to other better-known bodies of work, such as Polish posters of the
same period. Coming Attraction represents the first exhibition organized by
IPCNY that focuses on the rich graphic art tradition of this island nation.
The Collection
IPCNY is grateful to Merrill C. Berman, who generously loaned all of the
works on view in this exhibition. The Merrill C. Berman Collection (www.
mcbcollection.com) contains 125 Cuban movie posters among the many
thousands of examples of graphic design and modernist art collected by Mr.
Berman over a period of forty years. In the words of design specialist and
author Steven Heller, Berman’s collection “has grown into one of the foremost
troves of late 19th and 20th century posters and ephemera — essentially the
roots and routes of commercial design as art and profession.”
Left Page: Fors. El Aire No Cuesta (Air is Free), 1984. Reboiro, Antonio Fernández, Nhung, Una Muchacha de
Saigon (Nhung, a Young Girl From Saigon), 1975. Right Page: Antonio Fernández Reboiro, Rodeo, 1972. Jorge Dimas
González Linares, Sacco y Vanzetti, 1972. All Silkscreen on paper, 29 3/4 x 19 3/4 inches. All published by the
the Cuban Institute of Cinema Art and Industry. All Collection Merrill C. Berman. Photos: Jim Frank.
Front Cover: Raúl Oliva Baluja. Sao Paulo, Sociedade Anônima, 1968. Silkscreen on paper, 29 3/4 x 19
3/4 inches. Edition: unknown. Published by the Cuban Institute of Cinema Art and Industry. Collection
Merrill C. Berman. Photo: Jim Frank. Back Cover: Nestor, Semana de Cine Cubano en Puerto Rico, 1984.
Silkscreen on paper. 19 3/4 x 27 7/8 inches. Published by the Cuban Institute of Cinema Art and Industry. Collection Merrill C. Berman. Photo: Jim Frank.
International Print Center New York is a non-profit institution
dedicated to the appreciation and understanding of the fine art
print. Through exhibitions, information services and public
programs, IPCNY contributes to the expansion of audiences for the
visual arts. IPCNY presents seasonal contemporary juried shows through its New Prints Program,
while additional shows examine prints from a cultural, historical or thematic point of view. Coming
Attraction is the eighth in the series of international shows.
IPCNY extends special thanks to the following institutions and individuals who have contributed
their time and expertise to the presentation of this exhibition: Allison Van Spankeren and Craig Foisy
of New York University, Carole Rosenberg and the American Friends of the Ludwig Foundation,
Sandra Levinson and the Center for Cuban Studies, Carole Goodman, author of Soy Cuba: Cuban
Cinema Posters from after the Revolution, the Havana Film Festival New York, and others.
IPCNY is grateful to Merrill C. Berman for so generously lending his prints to this exhibition, and to
collection curator Jim Frank for his assistance throughout.
The following funders have supported IPCNY’s programs this season: National Endowment for the
Arts, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New
York State Legislature, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Milton and Sally Avery Arts
Foundation, Deborah Loeb Brice Foundation, the Consulate General of Finland, The Gladys Krieble
Delmas Foundation, FRAME Finnish Fund for Art Exchange, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation,
Harsch Investment Properties, Hess Foundation, The Jockey Hollow Foundation, Charles Stewart
Mott Foundation, PECO Foundation, Porter Family Foundation, Thompson Family Foundation and
numerous generous individuals.
IPCNY depends upon public and private donations to support its programs. To become a member,
or for further information, call (212)989-5090, email [email protected], or visit www.ipcny.org.
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