Manuel Alfredo Sosa Bravo

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Ceramicist, painter, and engraver. He infused ceramics with a sculptural character of personal distinction. He is one of the most important artists in the history of Cuban art.

Sosabravo was born in Sagua La Grande, of humble origins but with the firm aspiration to be an artist, he moved to La Habana in 1941.

In 1950, upon seeing the painting of Wifredo Lam, he began to paint as a hobby, until he enrolled in the evening course of the School Annexed to the San Alejandro Academy between 1955 and 1957. These were the only years of academic training he had, but his friend Ángel Acosta León would be responsible for guiding him in the deep learning of painting and later in engraving. With him he exhibited at the Arte Cinema La Rampa gallery in 1959.

During the following five years he paints and makes woodcuts, and receives successive awards in this latter manifestation. They name him a member of the Association of Engravers of Cuba and he teaches several courses in drawing and engraving at the National School of Art Instructors.

In 1965 he entered the Experimental Graphics Workshop of La Habana and began ceramics at the Cubartesanía Workshop in Cubanacán, where in addition to being a worker he began to familiarize himself with clay and created some pieces. Twice he received honorable mention with lithographs at the Havana Exhibition of 1966 and 1968. The lithographic works stood out within the totality of his work for the sometimes sarcastic accent that pervades them; but without renouncing the optimistic vision that defines the author.

He held his first important personal exhibition in 1967 with oil-collages and ceramics at Galería Habana, where the skill in execution, the ease with which he addressed the drama of the contemporary world, and the peculiar way of working with collage became evident: embedding fabrics with real stitches, painting arrows and popular phrases. This addition of elements, together with the organic relationship of the fragment to the whole from the previous graphic production, was done in pursuit of a new aesthetic value. Ceramics participated in this principle and henceforth overflowed the small format to conquer public spaces as well. It surpassed the merely ornamental and prioritized the need for expression, by which it became sculpture just like the genuine assemblage of the Cuban sixties. It is in ceramics where Sosabravo has achieved the greatest successes.

In 1973 he placed in the mezzanine of the Hotel Habana Libre a mural composed of 555 ceramic pieces begun in 1971, titled by the people Carro de la Revolución, a precursor of environmental works developed from the nineteen eighties onward. In 1975 he begins the Aparatos series and the following year receives an honor diploma with No. 3 at the V International Biennial of Ceramic Art in Vallauris, France, and the gold medal at the XXXIV International Contest of Contemporary Ceramic Art in Faenza, Italy, with Aparato No. 5. With other pieces from this series he continues to receive awards at editions of the Quadrennial of Applied Arts in Erfurt, Germany.

The nineteen eighties opens with his participation in important Biennials such as Venice and Habana, also in art insertion projects in society called Telarte and Art in the factory sponsored by the Center for Development of Visual Arts. In 1982 with Autopsy of the Robot he anticipates the majestic set of sculptural torsos Anatomicum displayed from the second five-year period onward and which he will exhibit in his first personal exhibition outside Cuba: at the Franz Mayer Museum in Mexico.

On the occasion of his 60th birthday, the National Museum of Fine Arts (Cuba) in La Habana organizes the anthological exhibition Nature, Man, Machine, whose title alludes to the three recurring themes of the artist. And that same year, as well-deserved recognition, seven of his works are shown in the permanent room of the newly inaugurated National Museum of Cuban Artistic Ceramics in the Castle of the Fortress, La Habana.

In 1993 he taught a course in mural ceramics at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, while also working at the Casa Museo Giuseppe Mazzotti 1903 Factory in Albissola Mare, Italy, where Wifredo Lam also worked.

He is awarded in 1997 the National Prize for Plastic Arts for his lifetime work before the mural Carro de la Revolución at the Hotel Habana Libre. The following year he presents his designs to the Ars Murano workshop in Venice, where they will be rendered on glass of the same name works very close to painting, for the color and transparency of the material. Subsequently he models a new version in bronze of the Anatomicum series at the Fonderia Bonvicini in Verona. In 2000 the Superior Institute of Art grants him the title of Doctor Honoris Causa.

A pleasant and surprising coincidence is that currently Sosabravo creates works in the San Giorgio da Poggi workshop, where Wifredo Lam, that artist who propelled him in his career, created most of his ceramic work. Sosabravo, without a doubt, has managed to become one of the most important artists in the history of Cuban art.

Awards

2000 The Superior Institute of Art in La Habana names him Profesor Honoris Causa.
1998 The mayor of La Habana presents him with La Giraldilla of La Habana.
1997 National Prize for Plastic Arts 1997, conferred by the National Council of Plastic Arts of the Ministry of Culture. The official presentation ceremony is held in January 1998, before his mural Carro de la Revolución at the Hotel Habana Libre.
1996 He receives the replica of the machete of Generalísimo Máximo Gómez.
1994 He receives the Orden Félix Varela of First Grade granted by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba in recognition of his artistic trajectory.
1986 He is awarded an Honor Diploma at the Fourth Quadrennial of Applied Arts of Socialist Countries, Erfurt, German Democratic Republic, for the sculpture Aparato Prolífero (1982)
1985 He receives a Mention at the Salon of Plastic Arts of the UNEAC, National Museum, La Habana.
1983 He receives the Ceramic Prize at the Salon of the City '83, organized by the Direction of Culture of the Popular Power of La Habana.
1982 He receives the Sculpture Prize at the Landscape Salon '82 called for by the direction of Plastic Arts and Design of the Ministry of Culture, for the ceramic Manigua Quemada con Guijes (1982).
1981 He receives the Distinction for National Culture granted by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba. He wins the UNEAC Prize and Jury Mention at the First Small Format Salon, Hotel Habana Libre, La Habana.
1980 Prize in Ceramics at the Salon of Plastic Arts of the UNEAC, International Art Center, La Habana.
1979 He wins a prize in lithography for Paisaje Calcinado, from the Negro series, at the First Triennial of Engraving Víctor Manuel, Galería de La Habana.
1978 The ceramic sculpture is awarded: Aparato-flor (1976) at the Salon of Plastic Arts of the UNEAC, International Art Center, La Habana.
1976 He receives an Honor Diploma at the Fifth International Biennial of Ceramic Art in Vallauris for Aparato no. 3 (1976). He obtains the Gold Medal at the XXXIV International Contest of Contemporary Ceramic Art in Faenza, Italy for Aparato no. 5 (1976).
1975 He is awarded First Mention in lithography at the National Salon of Engravings, Amelia Peláez Gallery, Lenin Park, La Habana.
1969 He receives First Prize in lithography at the National Salon of Graphics and Drawing of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), La Habana, for Retrato de una snob joven of the Contemporary Ceramic Art in Faenza, Italy.
1968 He receives Jury Mention for four color lithographs at the Havana Exhibition '68, Casa de las Américas, La Habana.
1966 He obtains mention in lithography at the Havana Exhibition 1966, Latin American Gallery, Casa de las Américas.
1960 He receives his first award: a Prize of Acquisition for the woodcut Sepelio del monopolio at the National Salon of Graduates on themes of the Revolution.
1959 He is included in the annual Salon 1959, Palace of Fine Arts, La Habana.

Chronology

Chronology of his life
2008 The National Museum of La Habana includes his work in the anthological exhibition Cuba: Art and History, presented at the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal, Canada. The Cervantes Institute of Vienna presents an exhibition of his work that included paintings and glass and bronze sculptures. He participates in the Tribute to Alicia Alonso held by the National Museum of Fine Arts on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the National Ballet of Cuba.
2007 He is part of the group of artists exhibiting in the exhibition Confluencias de Arte Cubano Contemporáneo traveling through the Republic of Mexico. The Galería Galeano of La Habana presents his sculptural work at the ART Madrid'07 Fair. Exhibition of Cuban Artists at Galería Vernissage, Barcelona.
2006 The Cernuda Art Gallery of Miami presents his work at the Art Miami and Arte Américas fairs. He participates in the Ninth Biennial of La Habana with a collateral exhibition at Galería La Acacia, La Habana. With Galería Galiano he exhibits at the second edition of the Art Madrid fair. Collective exhibition 13 Cuban Painters in Tarragona, Spain. Characters, personal exhibition of Painting and Sculpture at Galería Atelier, Barcelona, Spain. Design of the backdrop curtain for the ballet Cuadros in an exhibition with choreography by Alicia Alonso for the National Ballet of Cuba.
2005 Personal exhibition at the Gulf Coast Museum, Tampa, Florida. Recent Paintings, National Museum of Fine Arts, La Habana.
2004 Personal exhibition of Drawing-collages at Galería La Acacia, La Habana. Personal exhibition Painting and Sculpture, Gate One Foundation, Treviso, Italy.
2003 His work is represented in the exhibition Important Cuban Artworks, presented by Cernuda Art Gallery of Miami as a prelude to the Art Miami and Arte Américas fairs. Exhibition of painting and engraving at Castel Dell'ovo, Naples, Italy. Personal exhibition presented in Puerto Rico by Galería Gómez Fine Art in association with Cernuda Art of Miami. His painting El viejo tiburón, an oil on canvas from 1976, is included in the Second Havana Auction.
2002 Cernuda Art Gallery, Coral Gables, Florida, shows his works at the Art Miami Fair—as part of its roster of artists—as a prelude to the personal exhibition: Y la vida es un juego... which will later open in its galleries, marking his introduction to the American public. Pez Letrado, a mural made of ceramic slabs, is part of the environmental project that a group of important Cuban plastic artists donate to the Cesario Fernández primary school in La Habana. His work is presented in the United Kingdom through an invitation from the Cervantes Institute of London, where he exhibits several oils from his most recent production along with Murano glass sculptures. Two new glass sculptures: El bosque and El Parque are reproduced by Ars Murano. To his extensive expressive language he incorporates a new technique: he models at Fonderia Bonvicini in Verona five sculptures for reproduction in bronze. Attese onlus, organizing body of the Biennale di Ceramica nell' Arte Contemporanea in Albissola Mare, Savona, invites him to participate in this event with works he creates in the San Giorgio da Poggi workshop; the laboratory where Wifredo Lam created most of his ceramic work. His painting Florero fetiche, 1976, oil on canvas and collage is included in the first Havana Auction.
2001 The Comune of Orvieto, Italy organizes an exhibition of graphics and painting for him at the Palazzo Comunal of this historic city. He is invited by Gonzalo Díaz, director of the Sala Conca in La Laguna, Tenerife, one of the oldest in Spain, to exhibit an exhibition of his work, which includes paintings and engravings. Arte y Naturaleza, a Spanish company that operates with original multiples, commissions him two images to print in serigraphy on fabric by the Taller Fuera de Serie workshop, which would be presented at the Print Fair in Madrid. Works that form part of the rich Collection of this institution. At the Taller Pierluca in Albissola Mare, Savona, he paints a ceramic panel as part of the project Omaggi a Pierluca, which on the occasion of its anniversary brings together prominent international artists. For the Residencial América real estate company he installs the mural: Carnaval de la Habana, made on ceramic slabs and on a panel of 10 m2.
2000 He creates designs for a new series of glass sculptures at Ars Murano, Venice. He works on large format paintings for a personal exhibition by Galería La Acacia, La Habana, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of his birth. The Superior Institute of Art in La Habana names him Profesor Honoris Causa.
1999 Grand anthological exhibition organized by the National Council of Plastic Arts at the Wifredo Lam Center for Contemporary Art, on the occasion of the awarding of the National Prize for Plastic Arts. Sosabravo is published, monograph with introductory essay by Alejandro G. Alonso (Sosabravo original y diverso), La Habana, Editorial Letras Cubanas. A second series of three glass sculptures is realized at Ars Murano exhibited at the stand of Galería La Acacia at the International Fair of Contemporary Art, FIAC, Paris.
1998 He creates a mural of slabs and clay pieces for the El Pedregal restaurant, La Habana. He begins his collaboration with the Ars Murano workshop on that Venetian island. Creating the first series of three designs based on some images and themes taken from his painting that will be interpreted by master glass workers Roberto Cammozzo and Elio Raffaeli and the grinder Renzo Vianello. The first pieces—considered a novelty in the artistic tradition of Murano—are exhibited for the first time at the Palazzo San Giorgio in Genoa. Personal exhibitions in Italy: painting, engraving, drawing, ceramics and glass sculpture at the Palazzo San Giorgio in Genoa and at Palazzo Balbi of Campo Moroni. Personal exhibition of graphics, painting and ceramics at Centre Civic Pati Llimona, Barcelona. The mayor of La Habana presents him with La Giraldilla of La Habana. He participates in the exhibition of masters of the Second Salon of Contemporary Art, La Habana.
1997 Personal exhibition of painting, drawing and engraving at the Art Gallery of the City Hall of Piraeus, Greece. Personal exhibition of paintings at Galería El Guardián de lo Pequeño, Madrid. National Prize for Plastic Arts 1997, conferred by the National Council of Plastic Arts of the Ministry of Culture. The official presentation ceremony is held in January 1998, before his mural Carro de la Revolución at the Hotel Habana Libre. Commemorative ceramic column assembled in the Garden of Princess Diana of Wales, Habana Vieja. Maquinaria, mural of assembled ceramic pieces on the facade of Mercado Carlos III in La Habana.
1996 Personal exhibition at Galería Menno Meijer, Gouda, and at Kunstsalon Princehof, Leiden, Holland. He participates at the stand of Galería La Acacia, La Habana, at ARCO'96, Madrid. He receives the replica of the machete of Generalísimo Máximo Gómez.
1995 Graphics of Sosabravo at the Galería–Casa de Carmen Montilla de Tinoco, La Habana; which encompasses colographs from the La Recova workshop in Tenerife, lithographs from the Kyron workshop in Mexico City and silkscreens from the René Portocarrero workshop in La Habana. The National Museum creates at its headquarters in the Castle of the Royal Fortress of La Habana a permanent personal room that highlights his work in the historical panorama of Cuban artistic ceramics. He participates with his canvas Maria dos Prazeres in Twelve Pilgrim Tales. Twelve Cuban Painters, La Habana (Casa de las Américas) and Cartagena de India (school of Fine Arts), a project inspired by the work of Colombian Gabriel García Márquez. Novecento cubano. Nature, Man, Gods. Exhibition of contemporary Cuban painting organized by the National Museum of Cuba shown at the Royal Palace in Milan, incorporates his works Contemporáneos 1, 2 and 3 (1966), Personaje Frente al Sol (1967) and Escenario Abierto (1992); according to curatorship by professor Alejandro G. Alonso.
1994 The National Museum of the Print in Mexico City shows a Retrospective of lithography (1965–1991). Invited by the Lions Club of Savona, he creates in the Mazzotti workshop in Albisola Mare the Collection of ceramic plates Il piatto dell´Estate (1994)—more than a hundred pieces—which will later be exhibited at Villa Faraggiana in that Italian beach city. He receives the Orden Félix Varela of First Grade granted by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba in recognition of his artistic trajectory.
1993 He presents a personal exhibition of drawings (1989–1993) at Galería La Acacia, La Habana. He is invited by the Vice-Rectory of University Extension to teach a course in mural ceramics at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Tenerife, Canary Islands. Galería La Ermita, La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands exhibits a personal exhibition. It is the presentation of the artist in Spain. He paints the mural in acrylic War and Peace at the primary school in the city of Marzabotto, Italy, aided by young people from Switzerland, Morocco, Sweden, France, United States, Spain and Italy, convened by the International Civil Service. He paints the mural Liberation on the exterior of a house in Norbello, Sardinia, Italy, with the help of another group of students from various countries. He creates ceramics at the Fabrica Casa Museo Giuseppe Mazzotti 1903 in Albissola Mare—where Wifredo Lam also worked—and exhibits them in the gallery of Priamar, Savona, Italy. He takes part in the First International Biennial of Graphics in Maastricht, Holland.
1992 He participates in the commemorative exhibition of the 30th anniversary of the Experimental Graphics Workshop of La Habana, Colonial Art Museum, La Habana. He participates with the work Anatomicum Nº 61 (1990) in the First Biennial Barro de América, Sofía Imber Contemporary Art Museum, Caracas. He creates América, a mural of ceramic slabs in high relief, which will later be located at the Galería–Casa de Carmen Montilla de Tinoco, Habana Vieja. He resumes his pictorial work, long abandoned, with the canvas Carnaval de los Animales, in which he returns to the resource of collage with sewn fabrics from some of his earliest works. From this same year are Salvemos lo verde, El dulce pájaro de la juventud, De repente en el verano, Cabezas remendadas... In these and other pieces the artist, remaining faithful to his aesthetics, introduces, however, some substantial changes in his work.
1991 A ceramic mural is placed at the Hotel Villa Panamericana, La Habana. Personal exhibition of drawings and sculptures at Galería René Portocarrero, Sala Covarrubias of the National Theater, La Habana. He places a glazed ceramic panel at the Hotel Santiago, Santiago de Cuba. He is part of the exhibition of contemporary Cuban engraving on the occasion of the Fourth Biennial of La Habana, Colonial Art Museum, La Habana.
1990 Seven of his works form part of the permanent exhibition of Cuban artistic ceramics inaugurated by the National Museum at the Castle of the Royal Fortress, La Habana. Invited by the Terracota 4 group from Nueva Gerona, Isle of Youth, he creates works in the Japanese raku technique. On the occasion of his 60th birthday, the National Museum of La Habana organizes the anthological exhibition Nature, Man, Machine, where more than 300 pieces are shown, including painting, drawing and engraving. The ensemble allows one to appreciate, in all its complexity and richness, the relationships and borrowings among the different disciplines traversed by the artist, as well as the conceptual coherence of a trajectory of more than thirty years of artistic creation.
1989 He participates in the exhibition organized by the National Museum of Fine Arts of La Habana in tribute to the former Association of Engravers of Cuba founded by painter Carmelo González. He exhibits a group of pieces as a special guest at the First Amelia Peláez Biennial, dedicated to small format ceramics, Museum of Decorative Arts, La Habana. By commission of the Marina Hemingway Yacht Club in La Habana, he produces Marina, mural of ceramic slabs. The project dedicated to the design of artists for textile printing: Telarte VI International sponsored by the Center for Development of Visual Arts in La Habana reproduces one of his works. He is selected to participate in the exhibition Panoramic view of Cuban lithography at the Third Biennial of La Habana.
1988 He receives the Alejo Carpentier Medal granted by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba. He attends the inauguration of his first personal exhibition outside Cuba: Anatomicum, ceramics; presented by the National Museum of La Habana at the Franz Mayer Museum in Mexico City. Floresta, mural of assembled ceramic pieces, is installed at the Hotel Topes de Collantes, Sierra del Escambray, Sancti Spiritus. He completes and places Evolución, mural of slabs in six sections, in the exhibition pavilion of the Ministry of Light Industry, EXPOCUBA, La Habana. Nave, a glazed ceramic mural is placed at the Naval Academy, Granma, Baracoa, La Habana.
1987 Arbol de Juguetes, a ceramic mural of tiles and assembled pieces, is installed at the Central Palace of Pioneers Ernesto Che Guevara, Lenin Park, La Habana.
1986 He holds a personal exhibition: Small Panoramic of 55 ceramics from 1965 to 1986 at the Museum of Decorative Arts, La Habana. He is awarded an Honor Diploma at the Fourth Quadrennial of Applied Arts of Socialist Countries, Erfurt, German Democratic Republic, for the sculpture Aparato Prolífero (1982). He participates in the exhibition organized on the occasion of the Meeting of Latin American Ceramicists, which begins its itinerary of more than two years (1986–1989) across the continent at the Art Museum of Ponce, Puerto Rico. He participates in the Second Biennial of La Habana with Aparato del futuro, ceramic sculpture acquired by the National Museum for the permanent rooms of Cuban art. From this moment he begins to develop, in successive works, the concept of large ceramic installations of environmental scale—columns, murals and structures—in collaboration with sculptor René Martínez Palenzuela. Interaction of Opposites—three ceramic sculptures—is located in the main lobby of the National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, La Habana. He participates in the X International Biennial of Art, Vallauris.
1985 He collaborates in The Useful and the Beautiful, an initiative of the Ministry of Culture that promotes designs by Cuban artists for textile printing (Light Industry) and industrial ceramics (Isle of Youth). In this first edition Sosabravo makes a textile design and a prototype for ceramic dinnerware. 20 Anatomicums, personal exhibition of ceramics, is presented at Galería Plaza Vieja of the Cuban Fund for Cultural Assets, La Habana. He receives a Mention at the Salon of Plastic Arts of the UNEAC, National Museum, La Habana. He participates in the XLIII International Contest of Contemporary Art in Faenza, Italy.
1984 He is invited to participate in the First Biennial of La Habana. He exhibits at the National Museum collages from the series This Threatened World. He participates in the IX International Biennial of Ceramic Art in Vallauris. Aparatos and Other Subjects, personal exhibition of ceramics, is presented at the Provincial Center of Plastic Arts and Design, La Habana. Composed of three large series: Aparatos, Zoological and Anatomicum. He leaves the Cubartesanía de Cubanacán workshop and begins to work as an independent artist.
1983 He sends three lithographs from his Negro series to the Encounter of Engraving '83, Sala Tespis, Hotel Habana Libre. He receives the Ceramic Prize at the Salon of the City '83, organized by the Direction of Culture of the Popular Power of La Habana.
1982 He exhibits a group of ceramics at the XL Venice Biennial. He participates in the commemorative exhibitions of the XX Anniversary of the Experimental Graphics Workshop, La Habana. He receives the Sculpture Prize at the Landscape Salon '82 called for by the direction of Plastic Arts and Design of the Ministry of Culture, for the ceramic Manigua Quemada con Guijes (1982).
1981 He receives the Distinction for National Culture granted by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba. He wins the UNEAC Prize and Jury Mention at the First Small Format Salon, Hotel Habana Libre, La Habana.
1980 He participates in the Intersymposium of Bechyne, Czechoslovakia. Prize in Ceramics at the Salon of Plastic Arts of the UNEAC, International Art Center, La Habana. Autopsy of the Robot, ceramic sculpture, anticipates his investigations into the traditional motif of the sculptural torso, which will lead to the great Anatomicum series.
1979 He wins a prize in lithography for Paisaje Calcinado, from the Negro series, at the First Triennial of Engraving Víctor Manuel, Galería de La Habana. He holds a personal exhibition of engraved posters at the Small Salon of the National Museum, La Habana.
1978 Small Fauna, a series of drawings and ceramics is presented at the Small Salon of the National Museum (12 drawings and 24 ceramics). He holds an important personal exhibition of ceramics, drawing, engraving and collage at Galería de La Habana. Political themes—Chile, Hiroshima, Auschwitz—expressed through an unusual language, dominate the exhibition. Critics consider the ensemble as evidence of Sosabravo's absolute maturity, who has managed to synthesize in a coherent set contradictory elements such as expressionism, pop art, folk art and new figuration; and address the most terrible issues of contemporary history with irony and humor, based on a very imaginative language, of the greatest technical and formal freedom. In inaugurating the exhibition, architect Fernando Salinas points out the potential of Sosabravo's work, which expands from the individual to the social, from the artisanal to the industrial, from a limited space to an urban scale. They present Cuban Painting and Graphics at the Spanish Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid and at the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona. He receives an Honor Diploma at the Second Quadrennial of Applied Arts of Socialist Countries, Erfurt, German Democratic Republic, for Aparato no. 13 (1977). The ceramic sculpture is awarded: Aparato-flor (1976) at the Salon of Plastic Arts of the UNEAC, International Art Center, La Habana.
1977 One of his works awarded in Faenza with the Gold Medal is selected to be exhibited—together with others by various authors awarded in Italy—for the International Exhibition of Ceramic Art in Nagoya, Japan. He works on a large assembled ceramic piece from the Aparatos series for the Cuban embassy in Mexico. He exhibits engravings in Cuba / Painters of Today, Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris.
1976 He receives an Honor Diploma at the Fifth International Biennial of Ceramic Art in Vallauris for Aparato no. 3 (1976). He obtains the Gold Medal at the XXXIV International Contest of Contemporary Ceramic Art in Faenza, Italy for Aparato no. 5 (1976). He participates in the Sixth International Biennial of Engraving in Krakow. He conceives a first version in the lithographic technique of the Anatomicum series.
1975 He exhibits a personal show of lithographs at Galería UNEAC, La Habana. Including works from the series Homage to Popular Art and The Great Zoo. He is awarded First Mention in lithography at the National Salon of Engravings, Amelia Peláez Gallery, Lenin Park, La Habana. He exhibits engravings at the Panorama of Cuban Art from the Colony to Today, Museum of Modern Art, and in Graphics of Cuba / 19th and 20th Centuries, National Museum of San Carlos, Mexico City. He begins the ceramic series Aparatos with the work Unknown Landscape.
1973 He places in the mezzanine of the Hotel Habana Libre his ceramic mural Carro de la Revolución, composed of irregular assembled pieces, begun in execution at the end of 1971. It will be the largest sculptural piece created by the artist up to that moment, and the precursor of a series of large ceramic works of environmental dimension that he will develop from the nineteen eighties onward.
1970 He exhibits lithographs at Galería Zentrifuge in Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany with Umberto Peña and at Galería Pryszmasz in Krakow. He participates in Salon 70, National Museum, La Habana. He participates for the first time in two important international ceramic events: the Second International Biennial of Ceramic Art in Vallauris, France, and the XXVIII International Contest
1969 He receives First Prize in lithography at the National Salon of Graphics and Drawing of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), La Habana, for Retrato de una snob joven of Contemporary Ceramic Art in Faenza, Italy.
1968 He participates in the Second International Biennial of Engraving in Krakow, Poland. He receives Jury Mention for four color lithographs at the Havana Exhibition '68, Casa de las Américas, La Habana.
1967 He participates in numerous engraving exhibitions in Cuba and abroad: Intergrafik'67 in Berlin; Havana Exhibition '67; Premio Internazionale Biella per l'Incisione; First Graphics of Ljubljana. He holds a personal exhibition of oils and ceramics at Galería de La Habana. Critics note the originality of the approach of a painting that addresses with ease the drama of the current world, and notices the novelty of the ensemble of ceramics, foreign to traditional decorative function and oriented, instead, toward an expressive sculptural concept. On the occasion of this exhibition Alejandro G. Alonso publishes in the newspaper Juventud Rebelde, La Habana, the first important interpretation of Sosabravo's work, later reproduced under the title Toward Optimism Through the Path of the Monstrous: Alfredo Sosabravo in the magazine Universidad de La Habana, April–June 1968.
1966 He obtains mention in lithography at the Havana Exhibition 1966, Latin American Gallery, Casa de las Américas. He holds his first personal exhibition of lithographs at the Art Gallery, Galiano and Concordia, La Habana. He participates in the Fifth International Biennial of Engraving, Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan, with large format lithographs from the series The Bomb.
1965 He makes his first lithographs at the Experimental Graphics Workshop at Plaza de la Catedral, La Habana. He begins the technique of ceramics at the Cubartesanía workshop in Cubanacán where he makes his first pieces in this manifestation. Lithography and ceramics—disciplines with a high degree of artisanal execution, which has always interested the artist—will fill his artistic work for years, temporarily sidelining painting. Through them Sosabravo will achieve some of his classic images and introduce new nuances in contemporary Cuban art. He is awarded a Prize of Acquisition at the National Salon of Drawing, José Martí National Library, La Habana, with an ink from the Uprooted Figures series.
1964 He presents Metamorphosis, personal exhibition of paintings at Galería de La Habana, which grouped the characteristic themes of the painter in series: butterflies and fish, flowers and figures. The exhibition traveled through the main galleries of the country until 1965.
1963 He holds an important exhibition of drawings—another of his recurring techniques over time—at the Centro de Arte, La Habana. Drawing will bring Sosabravo critical praise and, together with woodcut, several Prizes of Acquisition during the early years of the nineteen sixties. He begins to work as a professor of drawing and engraving at the National School of Art Instructors (ENIA), where he teaches several courses.
1962 He obtains a Prize of Acquisition at the National Salon for the woodcut Florero (1962) made in dagame.
1961 He participates in the exhibition of painting, engraving and ceramics organized on the occasion of the First National Congress of Cuban Writers and Artists, Palace of Fine Arts, La Habana.