New book shows vivid detail in architecture, design and art in Cuba's
capital.
Posted on Sun, Nov. 11, 2007
By ADRIANA HERRERA
adrianaherrerat@aol.com
Havana Deco
''There are places in Havana where you feel like you're in one of the
most beautiful cities in the world,'' David Unger writes in the prologue
for Havana Deco, a book that shows in vivid detail the influence of Art
Deco in the architecture, design and art in Cuba's capital.
Unger, an author and translator, was in Miami to discuss Havana Deco
(W.W. Norton, $39.95) during Books & Books' recent 25th anniversary
celebration. The book describes a walk through homes and buildings from
the '20s, '30s and '40s that used the unique Art Deco architecture to
change the face of the city. There are also photographs of furniture,
frequently made with precious native wood like cedro, and a look at the
Art Deco influence on graphic arts, paintings and sculpture.
Three authors with a special gift of observation compiled the book:
Alejandro G. Alonso, curator and founder of the Museo Nacional de la
Cerámica Artística Cubana in Havana; Pedro Contreras, an arts historian
in Havana; and Martino Fagiuoli, an Italian photographer.
The book was envisioned as a tour through Havana with the help of
Fagiuoli's camera, but the final edition includes photographs by
Alejandro Alfonso and the history of some of the most influential Deco
buildings.
''We decided to publish Havana Deco because it's a book about an
architectural inheritance that is not well known in the United States,
and that is in danger of slowly vanishing, without being noticed by the
rest of the world,'' said editor Nancy Green.
The book begins with the Emilio Bacardí Building, completed in 1930. Its
original plans were revamped because of the impact of the Paris
Exposition of Decorative Arts, which gave birth to the term ``Art Deco.''
Each building contains a synthesis of the period and personal stories:
The López Serrano building, designed by architect Ricardo Mira, took its
name from the billionaire whose father committed suicide during the
crisis of 1921, believing he had to declare himself bankrupt. The famous
bookstore La Moderna Poesía, financed by the same Serrano and also built
by Mira, is an example of how Art Deco expressed the power of the people
behind it.
Havana Deco includes photographs from the period of the sacarocracia
(sugar aristocracy), which allowed the construction of luxury houses
like those of Manuel López Chávez, Salomón Kalmanowitz, and the
architect Pedro Martínez Inclán. A section is dedicated to porches and
to architectural details like the iron decorations in fences.
http://www.miamiherald.com/living/home_design/story/301717.html
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