Lenin en 1918
Artist
Eladio Rivadulla Martínez
Cuba, 1923 - 2011
Date1960
MediumSilkscreen
Dimensions36 3/4 x 28 in. (93.3 x 71.1 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LinePoster House Permanent Collection
Object numberPH.635
DescriptionEladio Rivadulla Martínez designed this silkscreen poster for the 1960 Cuban release of the 1939 Soviet propaganda film Lenin in 1918, about the resilience of Lenin and the leaders of the Russian Revolution in the first year of Soviet power. The composition is, appropriately, almost entirely dominated by Soviet red, and its generic and slightly scrappy illustration of Lenin looking masterful while Soviet workers rampage below him suggests that the artist had never actually seen the film. Cubans had been huge consumers of American movies since the 1920s; after Castro took power in 1959, far fewer imported American films were screened in Cuba and after the economic embargo instituted by the United States in 1961, access to them was terminated. Russian films both old and new soon filled the breach, mostly movies like this one on revolutionary and social themes reflecting the new political and ideological alliance between the two countries.On View
Not on view
