Influencias negristas en los dibujos cubanos del gallego Castelao y del manchego García Maroto

In this article we compare the graphic representations of two Spanish artists both committed to representing Cuban transculturation in the era of the avant-gardes of the 20th century. In a climate of negrista cultural effervescence and optimism for the accomplishment of the republican project, the trip and the happy stay in Cuba of Federico García Lorca were developed together with the musicologist Adolfo Salazar and the painter, writer and engraver Gabriel García Maroto. Eight years later, also a Galician from humid and cold lands like Alfonso Castelao would undertake the same American journey and, in spite of his political worries and his personal anguish for the future of Spain, he would find in Cuba a haven of peace from where he swelled his artistic creativity. There is no doubt that Castelao's negrism, being naturally refractory to the seduction of exoticism and folklore, appears more austere than the representations of other Spanish artists, who are, like García Maroto, more fascinated and influenced by Cuban vitalism.