Museum of Art of Matanzas Celebrates Anniversary with Exhibitions

This week, celebrations began for the 28th anniversary of the Museum of Art of Matanzas Lorenzo Padilla Díaz. The opening of the exhibition «How to Get Out of This?» at the future headquarters of the institution, located on Calle del Medio between Jovellanos and Matanzas, kicked off the event.

«The idea for this exhibition arises from a global trend of taking art collections out of institutions. The pieces in this exhibition belong to contemporary artists from Matanzas, including Lorenzo Padilla, patron of the Museum of Art; Osmany Betancourt ‘Lolo,’ Raúl Rodríguez Borodino, Adrián Socorro, and Adrián Gómez Sancho.

‘Since the building does not yet have the proper conditions to display these works of art, we cleaned it very thoroughly and exhibited the pieces for only a few hours so they would not suffer damage,’ detailed Yuseff Hernández, a specialist at the Museum of Art.

According to the institution’s Facebook page, the exhibition ‘was born from the desire to achieve the dream of a museum worthy of our collections, a museum worthy of the Athens of Cuba. It is a different exhibition. The setup was designed so as not to damage or harm the integrity of the works.'»

The pieces remained in the space for only a few hours, the strictly necessary time for installation, due to the current conditions of the building and for the preservation of the pieces.

The next exhibition dedicated to the 28th anniversary of the Museum of Art, «Ink and Time: Great Engravers,» a selection from the permanent collection, will open on Tuesday, May 19, the day of the anniversary, at 10:00 a.m. At the same time on the 20th, the UNEAC social house will host «The Poster: Art that Summons.»

For the 21st, they have reserved the presentation of the best of the Lorenzo Padilla Museum of Art’s holdings at the Pedro Esquerré gallery, curated by Vilma Roque and Patricia Muñoz, specialists from the Provincial Council of Visual Arts.

Regarding the work being carried out at the future site of the Museum of Art, Bielka Cantillo, director of the Provincial Heritage Center, stated:

«We have begun some actions here including cleaning, demolition, and debris removal, so that we can start using this building for the future project we are developing. We have worked on the conceptual ideas for what will become the Museum of Art of Matanzas, and we have worked on the architecture, lighting, and electrical projects.»

The Museum of Art of Matanzas was founded on May 19, 1998. As a teaching center, it treasures objects of great value and protects and promotes cultural heritage. The pieces it contains allow visitors to learn about the main values of Cuban art throughout different moments of its history.

It holds collections of painting, sculpture, engraving, posters, photography, artisanal pieces with local, national, and universal authorship, as well as decorative arts, including furniture, porcelain, glassware, metals, ceramics, and clocks, among others.

The collections of the Museum of Art of Matanzas exceed 2,200 pieces, among which one can enjoy works by Francisco Cobo, Agustín Drake, Fidelio Ponce de León, Esteban Valderrama, and Alberto Tarascó, among others. It also exhibits African art pieces donated by Lorenzo Padilla Díaz, which includes more than 300 pieces from 80 ethnic groups across 14 African countries.

The African art collection treasures numerous examples from nearly all ethnic groups of Sub-Saharan Africa, works that stand out for their antiquity and representation of the artistic and heritage values of the region. The collection includes manifestations such as sculpture, mask-making, and statuettes, where art is approached from a more symbolic rather than figurative position, attributing to ancestors and natural forces a preponderant place within the ritual that inspired their creation.

Written by Jessica Mesa Duarte