Acknowledgments

McEwen, Abigail

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Acknowledgments

Abigail McEwen

Revolutionary Horizons: Art and Polemics in 1950s Cuba

Acknowledgments

Author

Abigail McEwen

PublisherYale University Press

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00104.002

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-18037

Acknowledgments

Among the sundry pleasures of researching this book has been the opportunity to meet so many of its central protagonists, their families, and their friends. From Havana to Paris to Miami, they have invited me into their homes, shared memories and archives, and recounted—tirelessly and thoughtfully—the long decade of the 1950s. For their candor, conversations, and assistance, I thank Jérôme Arcay; Susana Barciela and Manuel Gómez; Ivan and Alba Cañas; Elena Cárdenas Malagodi and Luigi Di Giamberardino; Rita Consuegra; the late Salvador Corratgé; Geny Dignac; the late Viredo Espinosa; the late Abelardo Estorino; Clea and Sebastian Fernández; Julia González Fornés; Carmen Herrera; Eskil Lam; René Llinás; Tomás Oliva, Jr.; Pedro de Oraá; Graziella Pogolotti; the late Nicolás Quintana; Mariana Ravenet Ramírez; Patricia Riverón Lee; José Rosabal; Zilia Sánchez; Imma Mira Sempere; Christoph Singler; Ann Sitkin and Ilse Girona; Magaly Soldevilla and Martha Flora Carranza Barba; Hortensia Soriano; and the late Antonio Vidal. For their assistance in procuring images and introducing me to artists and artworks, I am indebted to a number of colleagues at galleries and auction houses: Francisco Arévalo; Ramón Cernuda; Antonio and Gabriela de la Guardia; Marta Gutiérrez; Irina Levya-Pérez; José Martínez Cañas; Israel Moleiro; Gary Nader; Marysol Nieves; and Aleksandra Petrovic.

Numerous institutions made their collections and archives available for study. At the Art Museum of the Americas, I thank Andrés Navia and Adriana Ospina for facilitating access to archives and artworks. Inés Zalduendo, Special Collections Librarian at the Frances Loeb Library, Harvard Graduate School of Design, provided special assistance with the Josep Lluís Sert Collection. I conducted research at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution; the Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas at Austin; the Cuban Heritage Collection and Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami; the Instituto Cubano de Arte e Industria Cinematográfico, Havana; the Laboratorio Nacional de Música Electroacústica, Havana; the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana; the Museo Nacional de la Música, Havana; the Museo Servando Cabrera Moreno, Havana; and the Museum of Modern Art Archives and Library, New York. I am additionally grateful to staff at a number of other institutions for research assistance: Art and Architecture Library, University of Kansas; The Art of Emprise, Emprise Bank, Wichita; Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University; the Center for Southwest Research/Special Collections, University Libraries, University of New Mexico; Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections, Northwestern University Library; the Hesburgh Libraries of the University of Notre Dame; Hoover Institution Library and Archives, Stanford University; the John Hay Library, Brown University Library; the Museum of Arts and Sciences, Daytona Beach; Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library; the Rockefeller Archive Center; Ryerson and Burnham Libraries, Art Institute of Chicago; Special Collections, Northwestern University; and The Wolfsonian, Florida International University.

I am further indebted to many friends and colleagues who not only shared contacts and materials, but also dispensed much good advice and timely encouragement. For their assistance and generosity, I thank Alejandro Alonso; Roberto Cobas Amate; Carol Damian; Orlando Hernández; Juan Martínez; Corina Matamoros; Eduardo Luis Rodríguez; Ramón Vázquez Díaz; and Elsa Vega Dopico. Edward Sullivan has remained a stalwart supporter over many years, and his initial enthusiasm for a dissertation on Cuban art allowed this book to take its first shape. I am additionally grateful to Alejandro Anreus for his continuing mentorship. Aspects of this book have been presented as talks at the College Art Association Annual Conference; the Graduate Center, CUNY; the Haus der Kunst, Munich; the King Juan Carlos Center, New York University; the Smithsonian American Art Museum; the University of Texas at Austin; and the University of Zurich.

Fellowships supported work on this book at crucial stages. A J. Clawson Mills Scholarship from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2008–9 allowed me to spend significant time in Miami and Havana. In 2013, a Summer Research and Scholarship Award from the University of Maryland and a Senior Fellowship from the Dedalus Foundation permitted over a year of writing and revision. A subvention from the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland provided support for the reproduction of images in this book, and I thank graduate students in the Department of Art History and Archaeology for their assistance in preparing many of its illustrations. At Yale University Press, I thank Katherine Boller for her early confidence in this project and Amy Canonico for her expert editorial guidance. Heidi Downey, Mary Mayer, and Tamara Schechter moved the book expeditiously through stages of publication, and Linda Truilo’s perceptive copyediting brought clarity to its language. I am additionally grateful to the anonymous readers enlisted by the Press for their thoughtful consideration of the manuscript. I owe far longer-standing debts to two professors at Brown University, Abbott Gleason and Kermit S. Champa, who provided exemplary early models of scholarship and teaching. To family and friends who have followed the book’s trajectory for many years, I give my sincerest thanks.

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