The images and information presented below are for the instruction of students and scholarly research.
Valentin Sanz Carta
(1849-1898)
Another of the
finest Cuban landscape painters was Valentin Sanz Carta.
Though born in the Canary Islands, Sanz Carta settled in
Havana and began his career as a portrait painter. Sanz
Carta ended up being one of the finest colonial painters
Cuba had to offer.
He received his education at the Provincial Academy of
Fine Arts in the Canary Islands. Sanz Carta preferred to
paint things as they were, in a Realist and Naturalist
light, and was said to have never painted anything
differently than it represented in real life. He
preferred the natural light of the outdoors to a studio,
and often used the “plein-air” technique, though in a
Realist way.
By the time Sanz Carta came to Cuba, he was already
established in the Canary Islands and Madrid as a
notable painter. Even though he settled in Cuba, it was
not his geographic status that made him a Cuban painter.
It was the subject matter. Sanz Carta portrayed the
Cuban countryside in a beautiful light that was neither
Impressionistic or unnatural, but true to the beauty of
his adopted home.
Paisaje Con Riachuelo y Rocas
In particular,
Sanz Carta was fascinated with the sea, and would often
incorporate it in his work. He was considered one of the
finest landscape painters in Cuba in his lifetime, and
was awarded the Landscape Painting Chair at San
Alejandro. He held this position from 1887 until his
death in 1898.
Sanz Carta also held a professorship at San Alejandro.
Among his students were Maria Ariza Delance, Teódulo
Jiménez Hernandez and Antonio Rodriguez Morey.
Paisaje Con Malangas y Cocoteros
Today, Sanz Carta’s
work is housed extensively in Spain and Cuba and
throughout the Caribbean. Could you own a piece of art
by Valentin Sanz Carta? We would be glad to help you
authenticate a piece of work by this great Cuban artist.
