María Elena Molinet de la Peña

Stage designer, professor, essayist. National Design Prize. National Prize for Artistic Teaching. National Theater Prize.

Graduated from the InterAmerican Academy of Commercial Drawing in 1949, and in painting and engraving from the San Alejandro Academy in 1952. Subsequently, she studied theatrical design with Czechoslovak professors Ludmila Purkiniova and Ladislav Vichodyl, and participated in workshops and training at important institutions in Berlin, Prague, and Budapest.

In 1953 she became professionally involved in theatrical work. For more than half a century she has designed costumes for various theatrical genres, including ballet, contemporary and folk dance, and especially theater. She worked on approximately 150 productions in Cuba, Venezuela, and Czechoslovakia, with leading Cuban directors such as Andrés Castro, Vicente Revuelta, Roberto Blanco, Rolando Ferrer, and Abelardo Estorino; the Spanish director Alberto de Paz y Mateo; and choreographers such as Evelia Berestain from Mexico.

Among the various works created for the national stage are: Las brujas de Salem (1961, dir. Rolando Ferrer), Una familia burguesa (1963, dir. Néstor Raimondi), Las impuras (1962, dir. Heberto Dumé), Ciclo Congo (1963, National Folkloric Ensemble), Recuerdos de Tulipa (1964, dir. Heberto Dumé), Ciclo Abakuá and Ciclo Iyessa (1965, National Folkloric Ensemble), Réquiem por Yarini (1965, dir. Gilda Hernández), Un tranvía llamado deseo (1965, dir. Modesto Centeno), María Antonia (1967, Dir. Roberto Blanco), Madame Butterfly (1967, dir. Carlos Piñeiro, National Opera), Las tres hermanas (1972, dir. Vicente Revuelta), La discreta enamorada (1971, dir. Abelardo Estorino), Galileo Galilei (1976, dir. Vicente Revuelta).

In 1967 she began her professional work in film. She designed approximately eighteen films (Cuban and co-productions with Nicaragua, France, and Spain), worked with the most important Cuban film directors, such as Humberto Solás, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, and Manuel Octavio Gómez, and contributed greatly to defining the image of national cinema in an entire era. Some of the films that bear her mark are Tulipa (1967), Lucía (1968), La primera carga al machete (1969), Los días del agua (1971), Páginas del diario de Martí and Los días del agua (both 1971), Mella (1975), El siglo de las luces and Rancheador (1976), Un hombre, una mujer, una ciudad (1978), Cecilia (1982), and Baraguá (1986).

Her teaching career began in 1961 when she was a founder of the National School of Art. She taught in regular courses, postgraduate programs, seminars, lectures, and consultancies at the Faculty of Arts and Letters of the University of La Habana, at the Higher Institute of Industrial Design (ISDI), and at other institutions linked to the performing and visual arts in Cuba. Her teaching work extended to Venezuela and to the Complutense University of Madrid in Spain.

Research and theoretical production regarding her specialty is a permanent activity that accompanies her artistic work. Since the early sixties, the designer has studied the technical, socioeconomic, plastic, and cultural aspects of Universal Line clothing and that which she classifies as Traditional Popular. From different perspectives, she investigates and reflects on this complex category that is the Image of Man, which includes body, intellect, and clothing.

She has published designs and illustrations in the Revista Atlética Femenina (1942); Ropa teatral (CNC, 1963), Revista Cuba (1964), and in foreign journals Le Decor du Theatre Depuis les Anns '50 (Brussels) and Quimera (Barcelona). She has also written articles for the journals Revolución y Cultura, Tablas, Sol y Son, Cuban Travel Magazine.

In 1997 her book La piel prohibida was published, and in 2008 Vestimenta ritual tradicional de la santería cubana, a work that offers the results of more than three decades of study and is essential reading not only for stage designers but also for scholars of ritual processes and those interested in Cuban Santería topics. In preparation are the titles La Imagen del Hombre en Cuba, La Imagen del hombre, Una teoría ampliada de la vestimenta, and Historia de la Imagen del Hombre Universal.

She has participated in numerous exhibitions, including: Modas, Museum of Modern Art, Caracas, 1958; Retrospectiva del Teatro en Cuba, UNEAC, 1963; Diseño Teatral, House of Czechoslovak Culture, La Habana, 1964; Diseño de Teatro Cubano. Talleres y Almacenes de Teatro, La Rampa, 1966; Prague Quadrennial (Prague, 1971, 1975, 1983, and 1987); Diseño de Teatro Cubano, Santiago de Chile, 1972; Triennial of Novi-Sad, Yugoslavia, 1978; First Colloquium of Theatrical Design, UNEAC, 1987; 30th Anniversary of the National Folkloric Ensemble, 1992; 30th Anniversary of the Mella Theater Complex, 1992; and Con los dedos del amor, personal retrospective, Domingo Ravenet Gallery, 1995.

In September 2009, her exhibition Vestidas por el tiempo was inaugurated at the "Raúl Oliva" Gallery of the Scenic Development Center in La Habana.

She has served as a judge in important national events related to design and the performing and cinematographic arts. She is a founder of the ISDI, the National Office of Industrial and Informational Design (ONDII), the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), and a member of its National Council. She belongs to the International Association of Visual Artists (IAP) of UNESCO, and to the Expert Council of the National Council of Performing Arts of the Ministry of Culture of Cuba.

She has received important recognition, including the Distinction for National Culture and the Alejo Carpentier Order granted by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba.

Due to the significance of her work, which spans all aspects of artistic creation and the transmission of knowledge, and because of the invaluable contribution she has made to national culture, she was awarded the National Design Prize (ONDII, 2005), the National Prize for Artistic Teaching (2006), and the National Theater Prize (2007).

Teaching

Her teaching career began in 1961 and continued consistently with regular courses, postgraduate programs, seminars, lectures, and consultancies at various teaching centers and institutions throughout the country. Similarly, she performed teaching work in Venezuela and Spain (Complutense University of Madrid).

In Cuba:

1961-1964- Workshop for Art Instructors in Theater, since the first held: Hotel Habana Libre, Department of Amateurs. National Council of Culture.
1961-1971- National School of Art, in the Theater area, co-founder and head of the Costume Chair and professor of design and History of Dress.
1962-1964- Schools of Art Instructors in Theater and Dance: Copacabana and Comodoro, co-founder. Department of Amateurs. CNC.
1962-1994- Workshop, seminars, etc. on Stage Costume and its history, in Municipal and Provincial Councils. CNC and MINCULT.
1972-1974- Professor of Design and History of Clothing, EDII.
1977-2001- During these years she taught courses, lectures, seminars, etc. to various areas of the theater and film fields for scenic costume creators, wardrobe supervisors, makeup artists, script supervisors, assistants, set decorators, and producers of film, theater, and dance, introducing them to the History of Clothing and the Image of Man, the function of Theater and Film, their treatment in the preparation of works, creation of garments, rehearsals, performances and/or filming.
1980- University of La Habana. Department of Art History, Faculty of Arts and Letters. History of clothing and from the 1980s onwards, Concepts and History of the Image of Man, until then unpublished.
1983-2001- Co-founder and professor of social costume design (Fashion), and Concepts and History of the Image of Man, at EDII and ISDII.
1984- From that date on, thesis advisor for works related to Clothing at the Department of Art, Faculty of Arts and Letters of UH.
1985- Seminar on the Image of Man in Cinema at the International Film School in San Antonio de los Baños.
1988- From that date until today, she has advised various degree theses from the Costume Department of ISDII, and has been a member of juries.
She gave various lectures, courses, and seminars on concepts of Clothing and the Image of Man, whether of a social (Fashion) or theatrical nature, at different cultural institutions in Cuba, as well as in Spain and Venezuela. Also in the last years of her life she advised the Scenic Design Department of ISA and the schools of Art Instructors in Theater and Dance.

Before stepping away from regular teaching at specialized centers, after about 40 years in such teaching, she prepared, in collaboration with another professor, a new course on the History of the Image of Man and its context for ISDI, helping to prepare professors for the new course.

In other countries:
1992- Venezuela: ULA, Mérida, Course on screenplay, design, and direction (with two Cuban professors) on the Image of Man in film.
1995- Spain: Complutense University, "Alicia Alonso" Chair, course on scenic design in dance.
1997- Venezuela: National Cinematheque, Caracas. Courses on appreciating the Image of Man in film.
In preparation, a seminar on the Image of Man in the Spectacle with the Concert Society of Maracaibo and a course on creating costume design in film at ICREA Caracas, Venezuela.

Lectures, Talks, Presentations:
She has given countless talks and lectures on Design in the Performing Arts; Evolution of Clothing and its theory; the Image of Man, its theory, evolution, and its semiotic values, with emphasis on the Image of Man in Cuba; at Theater Festivals; Colloquiums on Scenic Design; events and festivals in provinces, such as the Iberoamerican Festival and Culture; at the University of La Habana; at Workshops and Seminars of the National Folkloric Ensemble, and on the Rite in the Stage; at UNEAC; National Library, and others.

Presentations at various events such as International Design Meetings; V Centennial of African presence in America; Conference on Heritage and Tourism; Scientific Meeting of Historians and Design Scholars; remarks and commentary on Scenic Design exhibitions.

Research and Publications
Since 1960 she has conducted research on the technical, socioeconomic, plastic, and cultural aspects of Universal Line clothing and on the Image of Man, according to his clothing, body, and intellect, in its Universal and Traditional Popular aspects. In 1997 her book La piel prohibida was published and she is preparing the titles La Imagen del Hombre en Cuba, La Imagen del hombre. Una teoría ampliada de la vestimenta, and Historia de la Imagen del Hombre Universal. She has published designs and illustrations in national publications such as Revista Atlética Femenina (1942); Ropa teatral (CNC, 1963) and in Revista Cuba (1964), and in foreign journals Le Decor du Theatre Depuis les Anns '50 (Brussels) and Quimera (Barcelona). She has also written articles for Revolución y Cultura, Tablas, Sol y Son, Cuban Travel Magazine, among others.

Exhibitions
Modas (Museum of Modern Art, Caracas, 1958); Retrospectiva del Teatro en Cuba (UNEAC, 1963); Diseño Teatral (House of Czechoslovak Culture, La Habana, 1964); Diseño de Teatro Cubano. Talleres y Almacenes de Teatro (La Rampa, 1966); Nine Cuban Scenographers (House of Peace, Mexico City); Prague Quadrennial (Prague, 1971, 1975, 1983, and 1987); Diseño de Teatro Cubano (Santiago de Chile, 1972); Triennial of Novi-Sad (Yugoslavia, 1978); First Colloquium of Theatrical Design (UNEAC, 1987); 30th Anniversary of the National Folkloric Ensemble (1992); 30th Anniversary of the Mella Theater Complex (1992); Con los dedos del amor (Personal Retrospective) (Domingo Ravenet Gallery, 1995).

Recognition
Distinction for National Culture
Alejo Carpentier Order
National Theater Prize, 2007

María Elena Molinet passed away in La Habana on October 6, 2013, at the age of 94.