Artist Quote: “I conceive the art of caricature as one calling for instantaneous execution.” Achievements: Massaguer’s art left an important mark on Cuba, helping to define not only what Cubans considered ‘in vogue,’ but also informing day-to-day culture and politics. | About the Artist: A modernist, Massaguer was the publisher and designer of two major Cuban magazines at the time, Social and Carteles. In the late 1920s, one of Massaguer’s caricatures of the Cuban president Gerardo Machado landed him in hot water with the dictator and so he went into exile. Massaguer spent many years living in exile in New York City in the 1930s during Gerardo Machado’s rule in Cuba. He made his mark on the Big Apple, designing covers and illustrations for publications like Vanity Fair, Cosmopolitan and Literary Digest by day and socializing with movie stars and politicians by night. He designed colorful tourist brochures and ad campaigns to attract visitors to Cuba. About the Artwork: As the head of Social Magazine, he pushed what were at the time, controversial views on the ideal “new woman” or flapper. His art often starred these liberated, bobbed-haired women, with the artist even coining the term “Massa-girl” — a play on his last name and the Cuban slang term “masa,” meaning flesh — to represent their Cuban counterpart. |
Sources:
https://news.fiu.edu/2019/the-vintage-caricatures-of-a-visionary-cuban-designer-find-a-home-at-the-wolfsonianfiu
https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/cuban-caricature-and-culture-the-art-of-massaguer-the-wolfsonian-florida-international-university/RwLS1yMweNEeLQ?hl=en
https://news.fiu.edu/2019/the-vintage-caricatures-of-a-visionary-cuban-designer-find-a-home-at-the-wolfsonianfiu
https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/cuban-caricature-and-culture-the-art-of-massaguer-the-wolfsonian-florida-international-university/RwLS1yMweNEeLQ?hl=en