|
A director at San
Alejandro Academy, Enrique Caravia would become the
father of poster art in Cuba.
Born in Havana, Caravia studied drawing and painting at
both the School of Villate and San Alejandro Academy. In
1924, he was able to move to the United States to study
commercial art. By 1929, he had gained a scholarship to
continue his studies in Europe, where he mainly took
instruction in Madrid and Rome. After he completed his
studies in Europe, Caravia traveled to Mexico to study
engraving and print making at the School of Free Arts.
Along the way, Caravia also worked in watercolors and
became a truly multifaceted and talented artist. |
|
Though he is revered
as a landscape and portrait painter, Caravia also
created a number of murals and even mosaics. Along with
his interior decorative paintings, Caravia also
exhibited his oil paintings of seascapes and portraits
in the United States and abroad. Caravia held solo and
group exhibitions in New York, Pennsylvania, Los
Angeles, Vienna, Berlin, Munich, Madrid, Czechoslovakia
and of course, Havana. Caravia also collected a number
of prizes in his lifetime for his art, such as the gold
medal at the Annual Hall of the Belles Artes in Havana
in 1930, and the silver medal at the Latin American
Exhibition of Seville. Caravia also won a number of
first prize awards for his work in poster art.
Today, Caravia's work is housed all over Cuba and in
private collections. Upon his death, he left a countless
number of engravings, lithographs and paintings, and
proved to be a very prolific artist. Due to his wide
range of artistic ability and extensive travel, the
possibility for anyone owning a piece of art by Caravia.
And just because this former director of San Alejandro
isn’t a household name doesn’t mean that his art holds
little value—one of his seascapes alone commanded
thousands of dollars at auction. |
