On Cuban Posters

for the book "Cuba en la grafica" by Reyna Maria Valdes.

For a long time in Cuba, simpering, wheedling, and at times threatening and aggressive advertising posters were placed before our eyes. "Consume me, buy me", they demanded, inferring the risk of grave consequences if the wrong choice was made.
We were urged to take special care of the colour of our skin, our teeth, our kidneys; to protect our children from one risk or another. "Every healthy man is a sick man ignoring his malady", said Doctor Knock, given that only his products could guarantee well-being, pleasure, balanced health, and the voluptuous calm of luxury. All previous products were nothing compared with this, our product, studied specially for you. If it is cars, then ours are the only ones capable of giving top performance, prestige and, who knows, maybe success with women. If it is tobacco, then our cigarettes (handsome cowboy wakes up and lights his first cigarette before jumping on his horse) are the virile male's favourite, the strong, energetic "machos", the men who don't give a damn about the stories of lung cancer, invented by the enemies of pleasure to excess. And for you, Madam, to emphasise and improve your physical appearance, here is our cosmetic, our soap, so superior to the others, you'll soon be transformed into the phoenix of the creatures of the wood, and so on and so on. That was what the roadside bill-boards and the wall posters stuck everywhere were like, displaying a total disregard for any sense of hannony with the countryside or the town.
But with the Cuban Revolution a new mechanism was established for production, distribution and consumption, removing the "raison d'etre" of the traditional advertising poster which, particularly for cosmetics, drinks or the cinema, would often arrive ready-made, printed in United States. It was then that our design artists, engravers, decorators and typographers were called onto the scene. Those who previously (with rare exceptions) had been shunted to the sidelines in the advertising industry - and which in any case could hardly be said to have seduced them - were called to work on posters conceived for historical and cultural purposes. Publishing, theatre, cinema, museums, dance, music and exhibitions all required contribution from their talents, skills and particular styles. This effort was then combined with the constant concern of our Revolutionary Government to bring culture to the door of the masses in all aspects and at all levels. And because of its high quality, the poster was converted into an intrinsic vehicle for the spread of culture and a permanent expression of a new reality, continually renewing itself and accessible to all.
Equally, the importance that the poster acquired in the achievement of political awareness of the Cuban people must also be stressed. Every commemoration, every event, every contingency of our collective life is accompanied by posters, creating a living account through their images of the contemporary history of our revolutionary process.
The poster is actively present in celebrating the memory of our great men, the important dates in our history, reminding us of our duties, stimulating our energies or announcing major events. The poster is present in the workplace or the festival, playing an important part in the formation of the taste of the urban and peasant masses, familiarizing them through the variety of processes used with the most modem and original techniques for using visual images to convey messages to them.
In its field, and as a function of its aims, the Cuban poster achieves the long-time dream of many artists of "bringing art out onto the streets". Well, art has come out and there it is, saying all it has to say, day after day and right before our very eyes.
Alejo Carpentier, 1976