Mariano

- Blurb -

This bilingual catalog accompanies a retrospective exhibition of Cuban modernist painter Mariano Rodriguez (1912-90). The artist, known simply as "Mariano," explored variations on central themes that reappeared and evolved throughout his lifetime, most famously his iconic "gallo" (rooster) paintings. The McMullen Museum' s exhibition and catalog offer an expanded look into Mariano' s six-decade career from interdisciplinary perspectives. Essays consider Mariano' s formative association with Manuel Rodriguez Lozano and the Mexican School in the thirties and the symbiotic relationship that developed between Mariano and Cuban intellectuals to create a rich cultural history in the forties. The catalog discusses Mariano' s shift from figuration to abstraction in the fifties and his return to figuration with startling grotesque imagery in the sixties. There is also a focus on Mariano' s final period, which explores the individual and the collective, both compositionally and politically, in the seventies and eighties. Together, these essays illuminate both Mariano' s rootedness in traditional forms of Cuban symbolism and his forging of a unique style that came to characterize his work beyond "lo cubano. "