Giulio V. Blanc papers, 1920-1995

Collection Information

Size: 11.0 linear ft. (on 11 microfilm reels)

Summary: Papers compiled by Blanc concerning Cuban, Cuban-American, and Latin American art and artists dating from 1920 to 1995.
The bulk (8 ft.), of the collection consists of artists' files, 1920-1995, documenting nearly 300 artists with biographical material, letters, newspaper clippings, interviews, photographs, and exhibition announcements and catalogs. Among the artists represented are Maria Brito, Maria Martínez-Cañas, Pablo Cano, Margarita Cano, Marío Carreño, Ramon Carulla, Hernán Garcia, Antonio Gattorno, Wifredo Lam (file contains an interview with Cuban ethnographer Lydia Cabrera speaking on artist Wifredo Lam), Julio Larraz, Carlos Macía, Amelia Peláez (file contains an interview with one of the Peláez sisters, exhibition catalogs dating from the 1930s, and clippings from the 1920s), Enrique Riverón (includes illustrated letters and cards from Riveron to Blanc and his parents, and an interview conducted by Blanc), Demi and Arturo Rodríguez, Juan Sí, José Gómez Sícre, and César Trasobares.
Subject files (1 ft.), 1933-1995, relate to Cuban art, culture, and society, the Cuban Revolution, book projects, Havana and Sao Paulo biennials, and the Cuban Museum of Art and Culture in Miami concerning the controversy surrounding the inclusion of non-exiled Cuban artists in a 1988 art auction at the Museum.
Exhibition files (0.5 ft.), 1977-1995, relate mostly to exhibitions curated by Blanc, and contain letters from artists, museum directors and staff, and colleagues; drafts and finished essays for catalogs; exhibition catalogs and reviews from newspapers.
Photographs, 1981-1993, include b&w portraits of artists, photographs of Blanc with "Miami Generation" artists María Brito, Pablo Cano, María Martínez-Cañas, Carlos Macía, Arturo Rodríguez, and César Trasobares; and photographs of other artists.
Sound recordings consist of two cassette tapes: a 1992 College Art Association session "Artistic Voices of Latin America: The Aesthetics of Anti-Colonialism" in which Blanc was a panelist, along with Shifra Goldman, Juan Sánchez, Regina Vater, Guillermo Gómez-Pena, Oscar Vázquez, Victoria Libin, and others; and an interview conducted by Blanc with poet and priest Monseñor Angel Gaztelu Gorriti, a friend of many Cuban artists who presided over Amelia Peláez's funeral service in 1968.

Biographical/Historical Note

Art historian; Miami, Fla.; b. 1955; d. 1995. Specialized in Cuban and Latin American art. Blanc was born in Havana and came to the United States in 1960. He was educated at Harvard College, the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University, and the City University of New York. Blanc was a prolific writer of articles and catalog essays, a leading authority on Cuban art, and a significant link between Cuban and Cuban-American artists and American galleries and museums. He organized significant exhibitions including "The Miami Generation" (1983) and "Amelia Pelaez: A Retrospective" (1988) for the Cuban Museum of Arts and Culture in Miami, and co-curated "Wifredo Lam and His Contemporaries" (1991) at the Studio Museum in Harlem in New York. He also served on the editorial board for the magazine "ArtNexus".

Provenance

Donated 1998 by Margherita Blanc, sister of Giulio V. Blanc.

Language Note

Portions of the papers are in Spanish.