Antonia Eiriz (Havana, 1929) is, without any doubt, one of the greatest names of Cuban art and the most prominent artist that has emerged in the midst of the revolutionary process’ challenges. Her work is visceral, sustained, committed to her time and country and did not arise a priori; it was the result of a transcendental transformation born inside the Cuban society of the 1960s. Away from wasted avant-garde and obsolete languages, Antonia’s painting is unique, irrevocable, full of a lyrical expressionism and a black and acid humor of questioning and critical nature. While the official instances stimulated a banal art according to the aesthetics of socialist realism on the Island, Antonia established ruptures and preferred the sincerity of a speech committed on the reflection on the errors of the new Cuba that was been molded. Extraordinary and prodigious, our Antonia has not found yet any equivalent on the threshold of the national art and she is inserted, without exaggeration, among the best examples of universal art.
EDUCATION
- 1958 San Alejandro National Academy of Fine Arts, Havana
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1995
- Antonia Eiriz: tributo a una legenda, Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
1993
- Antonia Eiriz se expone, Weiss Sori Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida
- Tintas, Dutchess County Art Association, Barrett House, Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, New York
1991
- Reencuentro, Galiano Gallery, Havana
1987
- 25 grabados de Antonia Eiriz, San Miguel del Padron Municipal Museum, Havana
1986
- Tintas, Fondo Cubano de Bienes Culturales (FCBC) Gallery, Havana
1985
- Tintas, Latin American Cultural Space, Paris
1967
- Treinta poemas africanos ilustrados, Galiano Gallery, Havana
1964
- Pinturas, Galería del Lago, Mexico D. F.
- Ensamblajes, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana
- Pinturas y ensamblajes, Galería Habana, Havana
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1997
- Rompiendo barreras (Selection from the permanent Contemporary Cuban Art Collection), Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
1996
- Cuba siglo XX: modernidad y sincretismo, Atlantic Modern Art Center, Las Palmas, Canary Islands; La Caixa Foundation, Palm of Majorca; Santa Monica Art Center, Barcelona
- Rings: Five Passions in World Art (Global art exhibition in connection with the Cultural Olympiad of the Centennial of the Modern Olympic Games), Museum of Fine Arts, Atlanta
1994
- Paper Visions V (Biennial exhibition of works on paper by thirty contemporary Latin American artists), Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, Connecticut
1989
- La Habana en Madrid, Madrid
1969
- Litografías cubanas contemporáneas, Havana
- Homenaje al 26 de julio, Havana
- VIII Premio Internacional Joán Miró, Barcelona
- Pintura cubana de hoy, United Nations, New York
1968
- Salón homenaje a los 100 años de la lucha por la libertad, Havana
- Pintura cubana, Rome
1967
- Cuba en Londres, London
- Pintura contemporánea, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana
- Pintores y guerrillas, Casa de las Américas, Havana
1966
- Pintura contemporánea, Rome
- Homenaje a Escardó-Baragaño, Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), Havana
- 10 Pintores cubanos exponen (Print Biennial), Warsaw
1965
- Salón Nacional de Dibujos, José Martí National Library, Havana
- Bienal de grabados, Santiago de Chile
- Exposición en saludo al XIII aniversario del 26 de julio, Havana
- Salón Nacional de Dibujos, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana
- Exposición 26 de julio, Galería Habana, Havana
1964
- Salón Nacional de Pintura y Escultura, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana
- Salón Nacional de Dibujos, Havana
- Homenaje a Venezuela, Havana
1963
- 7ma Bienal de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo
- VI aniversario de la Revolución, Galería Habana, Havana
- Expresionismo abstracto, Galería Habana, Havana
- Cincuentenario del Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana
- Bienal de grabados, Tokyo
1962
- Exhibición de dibujos, Matanzas Gallery, Matanzas, Cuba
- Ocho pintores y escultores, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana
- Primer concurso de grabado latinoamericano, Casa de las Américas, Havana
- Dibujos, Oriente Gallery, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
- Pintura de Cuba por los países socialistas (Itinerant exhibition)
1961
- 6ta Bienal de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo
- Salón de grabados con temas de la Revolución, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana
- Congreso de escritores y artistas cubanos, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana
- Libertad para Alfaro Siqueiros, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana
1960
- Salón Nacional de Pintura, National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana
- Exposición en galería Hotel Habana Libre, Habana Libre Hotel, Havana
- Exposición en Palacio de Bellas Artes, Palace of Fine Arts, Caracas
- Exposición en Palacio de Bellas Artes, Palace of Fine Arts, Mexico D. F.
- Seis nuevos valores, Lyceum, Havana
1959
- Arte cubano de hoy, La Rampa Art Gallery, Havana
- Concurso Guerlain, Lyceum, Havana
- Arte para Oriente, Lyceum, Havana
- Trece artistas cubanas, Lyceum, Havana
1957
- Exposición en la antigua Iglesia de Paula, Paula Church, Havana
- Exposición de estampas cubanas de navidad, Editorial Lex Art Gallery, Havana
1952
- Exposición, CTC Gallery, Cuba
AWARDS
1994
- John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, New York
1989
- Félix Varela Medal (Awarded by the Minister of Culture), Havana
1983
- Alejo Carpentier Medal (Awarded by the Minister of Culture), Havana
1982
- Raúl Gómez García Medal [Awarded by the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC)], Havana
1981
- Medal distinction for Culture (Awarded by the Minister of Culture), Havana
1963
- First Award of Xylography, First Contest of Latin American Engraving, Casa de las Américas, Havana
1961
- Honor Mention, 7th Sao Paulo Biennial, Sao Paulo
1960
- First Award, Contest Apuntes sobre la Revolución, Havana
COLLECTIONS
- National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana
- Avistamientos Collection, Havana
- Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
- Kcho Collection, Havana