|
First miniature art festival in Cuba
BY
LUCIA ARBOLAEZ —Special for Granma International—
WHICH art form is not developed in Cuba? Deep in the
heart of the Caribbean island are artists
representing all manifestations imaginable and they
proliferate. Painting, sculpture, music, dance, and
literature are perhaps the most classic and
widespread, but there are also expressions that are
not always so widely circulated.
And
here we have miniatures, a longstanding variant in
the midst of tropical breezes, little-known but no
less attractive, the growth and development of which
has led to the country being selected as the venue
for an international festival in which one can
appreciate the level of national participation in
this world current.
The
Fair is set to take place this May in the
municipalities of San Juan de los Remedios and
Caibarien in the province of Villa Clara. The event
will be attended by Honorary President Harold
Gramatges and guest artist Manuel Millar Amador
(Maike).
It
is the first event of its kind to take place on our
continent.
During the event, the fundamental objectives of
which are to bring together Cuban miniaturists to
tackle current themes of the development of this
artistic expression throughout the world, to
organize a contest and an auction of artwork. Also,
a museum is to be established in honor of this art
which requires precision, skill and, fundamentally,
great sensibility to capture each detail however
small the work may be.
It
is expected that Joan Kelly, president of the World
Federation of Miniaturists – headquarters in
Australia – will attend the event, as well as
representatives from Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela,
Brazil, Ecuador, Romania and the United Kingdom,
among other countries.
A
brief history
The
word “miniature” derives from the word “minium”, a
red rust oxide used in the illustrations that
adorned manuscripts, and generally referring to
works of art of small dimensions that illustrate to
scale real episodes in the daily lives or events
created in the imagination of the artist.
The
antecedents lie in the archaic traditions and myths
of the Han dynasty (206 BC -220 AD) in ancient
China, where it was customary to bury the deceased
along with diminutive ceramic figures, called
ming-qi, representing real objects and people
that had surrounded the dead person throughout his
life.
The
first illustrated manuscript was The Book of the
Dead produced in Egypt around the year 1310 BC.
In Europe, the initiator of the art form was Hans
Holbein (16th century), an artist in the court of
Henry XIII. In the 18th century, there was
outstanding work from Japanese artist and engraver
Hokusai (1760-1849) who cultivated all genres, in
particular miniature art. It is said that he
surprised Emperor Iyenari by presenting him with a
leather bag that contained a grain of rice engraved
with the Fujiyama landscape and delicately detailed
cherry trees in bloom.
In
Cuba, the practice was initiated in the 19th century
by Luis Montserrat Orizondo and later by Luis García
Triana in the first half of the 20th century. There
are currently various artists working, including
René Cordero whose collection includes a beautiful
collection of furniture inspired by European and
colonial styles; and Manuel Millán Amador, (Maike)
who uses bone, marble, bamboo, wood, shells, conches
and all kinds of materials to work on unimaginable
pieces, some which are only visible using a
magnifying glass.
A Chinese descendent, he has no academic training
and admits to having received his training from the
master sculptures in Chinatown where he was born and
raised, and particularly from his father who was
also a sculptor, but not a miniaturist. Animals,
landscapes, historical pieces, cameos, gods, Buddha,
are created in his skillful hands which normally,
due to the complexity of his work, take around 10
days to finish a piece, working six hours every day
uninterrupted. |
