La Jornada: Cuban roots, “aesthetic embrace” between schools of the Caribbean island and Mexico

With the aim of showcasing the affinity between the Old Academy of San Carlos, of the Faculty of Arts and Design (FAD) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and the San Alejandro National Academy of Fine Arts in Havana, Cuba, the virtual exhibition Cuban Roots opened yesterday. This collective exhibition brings together the work of members of a portrait workshop at the Caribbean institution.

According to the Cuban academy, the exhibition highlights works that showcase and pay tribute to great artists and personalities who embody the soul of the island’s culture.

This is a selection of portraits created using various techniques, highlighting the mastery of drawing, the observation of the human figure, and the expressive richness of a discipline that remains fundamental to contemporary artistic training.

The exhibition originated from a visit by José Daniel Manzano Águila, coordinator of the San Carlos Cultural Center project, to the facilities of the Cuban academy. There, he encountered spaces where, as at San Carlos, disciplines “essential to artistic training” are taught, such as drawing, painting, sculpture, and ceramics.

“This convergence between the two institutions made me reflect on the close relationship between two academies that, although born in different historical contexts, share the same vocation for teaching art and for preserving an academic tradition that has trained generations of artists in Latin America,” the university official noted.

During his visit, Manzano Águila had access to the work of members of the drawing workshop led by Reynier Suñol Silva, a professor at the San Alejandro Academy, who would be exhibiting their work at the venue.

Due to the quality of the pieces, a common ground was found between the two institutions, and an idea emerged that, over the months, would eventually become this exhibition, Cuban Roots.

The initial idea was to bring the drawings to Mexico; however, “we soon realized the difficulties involved in transporting the works and the time required to organize a project of this nature.” Therefore, this initiative found an opportunity to broaden its reach in the virtual format.

In this regard, the San Alejandro National Academy of Fine Arts posted on its Facebook page that, more than a portrait exhibition, the project represents “an aesthetic embrace” between the oldest art institutions in the Americas.

“Today, Mexico welcomes the faces and essences of some of the most cherished figures of our national identity.”

For its part, the San Carlos Academy stated that the exhibition celebrates shared heritage, artistic training, and the exchange of knowledge between two institutions that have contributed to the development of art in Latin America for generations.