Lilia Jilma Madera Valiente

Celebrated creator of Cuban visual art. First woman in the world to create a work of such great magnitude and the most popular in Cuban territory: the Cristo de La Habana.

Lilia Jilma Madera Valiente or "flower of the field" as it means in the Zipa language, was born as the fruit of the union between the Cuban Eufemia Dolores de Jesús Valiente and the Asturian Severiano Madera García. She was born as her mother's eighth child, in the province of La Habana. This event took place on the farm "La Victoria," located in the Bermejales neighborhood, municipality of San Cristóbal, Pinar del Río, Cuba, purchased by Severiano Madera García, native of Asturias, province of Oviedo, Spain, at the cost of 2,800 Spanish gold pesos with an extension of eleven caballerías, three of them dedicated to tobacco cultivation, the rest to livestock and precious wood planting.

The family's economic solvency allowed them to send their children to the capital to pursue their studies.

Jilma took her first studies at Centro Gallego, later she attended the school of home economics where she received her diploma as a teacher in Home Economics in June 1936. In May 1937 she was authorized to practice this profession in group III of Primary School No. 4 of the school district in downtown La Habana where she served as a teacher of Home Economics for 25 years.

Her mastery of the English language allowed her to work as a language teacher for eight years at the Félix Varela secondary school, at the Workers and Peasants Faculty (FOC) Enrique Zalanaga and Antonio Maceo.

Self-improvement was constant for Jilma Madera, which is why she took summer courses in Pedagogy at the University of La Habana and English at Columbia University New York.

In 1961 with 24 years of experience as a teacher, she joined the literacy campaign, a beautiful and humane mission that made her feel proud to contribute modestly to ending illiteracy in her homeland, like many thousands of Cubans who could read and write, she felt the duty to help her illiterate brothers and sisters. In the initial stage of the campaign she participates in the promotion to recruit literacy teachers, together with the intellectuals Raúl Ferrer, Rafaela Chacón and Jesús Orta Ruiz. She later joins the Conrado Benítez Brigade. On August 28, 1961, she arrived at the San Ramón farm, Arroyo Rico neighborhood in La Palma, at the house of farmer Eusebio Alfaro where she remained until the end of the campaign. During this period she was in charge of a group of literacy teachers and graduated 12 students under her charge. She was selected as an outstanding literacy teacher on several occasions and participated in different municipal and provincial events. Her work was not limited to teaching the Alfaro family to read and write, she also shared with them domestic and farm labor.

On November 28, 1961 she returned to her home, with the satisfaction of duty fulfilled for which she deserved the commemorative literacy medal. As a beautiful and elegant woman since her youth, she was admired and courted, loves and disappointments led her to delve into her inner world and find herself. Thus arose powerful and strong her passion for the visual arts.

Very soon she felt the need to enroll in an academy of painting and sculpture that would allow her to develop her artistic interests. They say that love is the twin brother of art, and this was the foundation upon which one of Cuba's most acclaimed sculptors was built.

In 1942 she enrolled in the Anexa School of San Alejandro and from 1942 studied at this prestigious painting and sculpture institution. During her time there she had as teachers Sicre, Armando Maribona, Gelabert, Michelena, Enrique Carabia, Casagra, she stands out for her talent and obtains different awards.

In 1946 in the modeling course, she obtained first prize in the second year, in composition and relief. She was awarded in 1948 the prize and second place in modeling and statuary.

In 1952 she receives her degree as a professor of drawing and modeling. Jilma chooses sculpture because it suits her defined and concrete temperament. Each day she feels the need to delve into the mysteries of this art. She undertakes studies to expand her knowledge about sculptural art at prestigious centers The Art Student League in New York. In that same city she learns about terracotta technique and attends the Clay Club.

In 1947 she studied and worked hard in New York, executing works in marble, bronze and terracotta. She worked and studied under the direction of the famous Spanish sculptor José de Creft. An admirer of great cultures and civilizations, she visited different countries and places in America, Europe and important museums and galleries.

In Mexico she studied pre-Hispanic culture to expand her knowledge about this world. With great creative fertility she developed a multifaceted production. The most diverse materials and figures were molded by her prodigious hands. She did not consider herself self-taught but neither does she define an influence, although she learned from her teachers. Disciple of D´Aniello, Uruguayan ambassador to Cuba, a man she admired and who taught her most, she left us a work with its own seal of pure creation, without additions, sober, classical, proportional, capable of giving serenity and harmony.

Many critics classify her art as neoclassical, with a tendency toward stylization without abandoning the figurative, nor dehumanizing her figures, without abuse of abstraction, while her works revolve around mankind. Although she creates allegorical sculptures, nudes, of small formats, her fundamental theme is portraiture. Within this are found sculptures in the round, busts and reliefs of historical figures that constitute commemorative monuments. She was careful about the relationship between volume, space, place, and light. With careful work and perfect drawing she presents her forms: simple, balanced, with closed composition.

The artist gives great importance to the sun, calling it the sculptor's great helper, which is in charge of drawing the sculpture giving it light and shadow.

According to Dr. Rosario Novoa: "Jilma was demanding, refined and meticulous in technique." She applied these concepts in direct carving, lost wax casting, molding and pointing (copying a sculpture and enlarging it to greater dimensions).

Jilma Madera, varied and strong like cedar, majestic, elegant, hard like mahogany, flexible like majagua, fragrant like Arabian jasmine and aromatic like coffee flower, with her own seal and original talent left us an extensive body of work placed in the most diverse places in Cuba and other countries such as Puerto Rico, United States, the former Republic of Armenia of the extinct USSR.

Monuments such as "The Pact of Silence" dedicated to the Pérez family located in Cacahual, the bust of "José Martí" located on Turquino, the reliefs of "Carlos J. Finlay," "Miguel de Cervantes," "William Shakespeare," and her extraordinary "Cristo de La Habana" are the result of the dedication of an artist, of a woman who despite interrupting her creative work in 1960 due to glaucoma, did not cease in her effort to contribute to the development of culture in her country, becoming a cultural promoter, she put at the disposal of her land all her effort and knowledge.

She received recognition from her people when she was presented with different decorations, among which is the medal for National Culture.

Most Well-Known Work
José Martí set the guidelines in her life and principles, and influenced her decisions, so she always felt the desire to paint and sculpt his figure. She made a portrait of him that she exhibited at the Fragua Martiana in 1952 and appeared on the cover of Bohemia magazine. It is the Martí of Turquino and the one at the entrance to the Museum of the Revolution.

The frontispiece of the Fragua Martiana was also her idea. It represents an open book with an inner flame and above it a star as if formed by the flame's smoke. She chose the star because it is a constant symbol in Martí's prose.

The Cristo de La Habana, she made it based on a government convocation. She created it in white Carrara marble, filled with concrete, its total weight is 320 tons, made up of 67 pieces, it is 24 meters high. It was inaugurated on December 25, 1958, at the entrance to Havana Bay. It represents a strong, large Christ, on the chest you can see the dorsal muscles, you can see the knees, the sweet face and thick lips, the eye sockets are empty, because according to its author, they cannot be seen from a distance.

History of the Martí of Turquino
To create the Martí that would be placed on Pico Turquino, Jilma bought the bronze and had it cast at Public Works. But to carry out this project there was no money, so she made medallions and a small Martí that was sold for fifty pesos, with which everything was paid. She charged nothing, she felt rewarded by having a monument dedicated to the apostle, at 2 thousand meters high, on the highest pedestal, as befits a figure like Martí.

Gonzalo de Quesada made a call to Martí followers to propose phrases from the Master, with a view to choosing one and placing it on the Turquino bust. The phrase proposed by Jilma was the one selected. "Scarce as the mountains are the men who know how to look from them and feel with the heart of nation and humanity." To place it, he had to ask permission from the Spanish marquis, owner of Turquino, as Jilma was a teacher in a Home Economics classroom in the city of La Habana, Dr. Manuel Sánchez Silveira, father of Celia Sánchez Manduley, took care of all the procedures.

About fifty Martí followers climbed to Pico Turquino, dressed in olive green uniforms, Celia and her father were also there.

Personal Exhibition
Retrospective of the sculptural work of Jilma Madera, Municipal Museum of 10 de Octubre, La Habana, October 10, 1983.
Group Exhibitions
1939/1949/1950 Salón de Bellas Artes, Círculo de Bellas Artes, La Habana.
1949 Women in Cuban visual art, Lyceum, La Habana, February 22 - March 3.
1950, 16 Cuban sculptors, Sociedad Universitaria de Bellas Artes, La Habana, May 15-30.
1950 IV National Exhibition of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving, Centro Asturiano, La Habana, July 4-20.
1951 V National Salon of Painting, Sculpture and Engraving, Centro Asturiano, La Habana, July-August.
1953, Painting, sculpture, ceramics, Retiro Odontológico, La Habana, July 18 – August 2.
1954, VII National Salon, Palacio de Bellas Artes, La Habana.
1955, Permanent Hall of Cuban Visual Arts, Palacio de Bellas Artes, La Habana, July 22.
1955, Cuba in the Trap: The Progress Fair, Tampa, Florida, July 1-16.

Awards
1939, Mention of honor, XXI Salón de Bellas Artes, La Habana.
Silver medal, XXXII Salón de Bellas Artes, Círculo de Bellas Artes, La Habana.

Sculptural Works
Figure, bronze, 25 cm, 1948.
Indian Mother, terracotta, ca. 1950.
Viceversa, stone carving, 1954.
Tahitian, bronze, ca. 1951.
Lament, bronze, ca. 1950.
Genesis, terracotta, ca. 1951.
CRISTO DE LA HABANA
Works Placed in Cuba
Plaque of Carlos J. Finlay (bronze), Finlay Institute, La Habana, 1935.
Bust of José Martí (bronze), Pico Turquino, Oriente, May 19, 1953.
Cristo de La Habana (marble), Casablanca, La Habana, December 24, 1958.
Monument to General Francisco Peraza, El Cacahual, La Habana.
Martí Monument, San Nicolás Park, La Habana.
Monument to Adolfo del Castillo, Managua, La Habana.
Decorative Fountain, Havana Zoo.
Death

«Some scholars classified Jilma Madera's style as an elegant expression of neoclassicism; others observed tendencies toward stylization without abandoning the figurative. But there was a consensus in studying her: in all of them shines her own seal, details and indications that are highly original and give a beautiful and poetic touch» (Oramas, 1983)