Not a tourist's Cuba

[Bulldog]

A new exhibition at the MMFA uses 400 paintings, posters, photos and more to richly illustrate this country's art history

Mario Carreo's Sugar-cane Cutters (1943) is among the works in the new MMFA exhibition of Cuban art that opens tomorrow.

KATHRYN GREENAWAY ,  The Gazette

A major exhibition of Cuban art opens at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts tomorrow.

¡Cuba! Art and History from 1868 to Today is an ambitious, multidisciplinary project that gathers together approximately 100 paintings, 200 photographs and documents, 100 pre- and post-1959 revolution posters, sculptures, installations, videos, film excerpts and music.

The exhibition was organized over three years by the MMFA and the Havana-based Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (MNBA) and the Fototeca de Cuba. The exhibition also includes works selected from different collectors and museums in the United States, including New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and Europe.

MMFA director Nathalie Bondil said that although many Canadians might be familiar with the sun, beaches and music of Cuba, its art history is more obscure.

"Art is not decoration," Bondil said yesterday. "This is an exhibition that has touched me profoundly. It is multi-layered and complex. Take time to reflect on it."

Putting the exhibition together was a challenge. The boxes needed to transport materials were built in Montreal, then sent to Cuba to be filled and shipped back to the museum. But boxes designed to transport one of the exhibition's centrepieces - a massive, 55-square-metre mural created in 1967 by 100 artists from different countries - didn't work. In the end, the mural's panels were intricately wrapped, but not boxed, for transport.

The Collective Mural of the Salon de Mai 1967 was created in Havana, the night of July 17 during an important international visual arts event. It is the first time it has been exhibited outside Cuba, since 1968.

"It was a dream of mine to have an exhibit like this in the Americas," MNBA associate director Luz Merino Acosta said yesterday. "Of course, this can't happen in (the United States) because of the embargo, but Canada and Cuba have a harmonious relationship and this museum in Montreal is a beautiful space for people to learn about our art and culture."

The museum has organized a series of free lectures and film screenings in connection with the Cuba exhibition, including today's 1:30 p.m. showing of the American film Sin Embargo (2003), about Cuban artists and their struggle to create in difficult circumstances, and a 5:30 p.m. lecture, in English, by the MNBA's Merino Acosta, about the impact of popular graphics (disseminated through the press and magazines) on Cuban creative circles.

The museum has published a 424-page hard-cover catalogue about the history of Cuban art covered by the exhibition. The museum boutique is stocked with separate editions in French and English and will soon have a Spanish edition. The cost is $69.95, plus tax.

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts exhibition ¡Cuba! Art and History from 1868 to Today opens Jan. 31 at the Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion, 1380 Sherbrooke St. W. Admission is $15 for adults (half-price on Wednesdays between 5-9 p.m.); $7.50 for students and seniors, free for children age 12 and under and $30 for a family pass. Audio guides, in French, English or Spanish, can be rented for $5. For more info, call 514-285-2000 or www.mmfa.qc.ca.

kgreenaway@thegazette.canwest.com

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