Marta Arjona Pérez

Sculptor and ceramicist. Supreme manager of the rescue and care of the nation's cultural assets since the very triumph of the Cuban Revolution. Cuba's representative to the Convention for the Protection of World Heritage since 1972.

Marta Arjona Pérez was born in Havana. She came from a family of mambi heritage. Her grandfather, a prominent doctor from San Nicolás de Bari, had been under political surveillance between the wars of '68 and '95 for having created several separatist newspapers in collaboration with Juan Gualberto Gómez, among them, La Segueta and Las Antillas. In 1896, Antonio Maceo and Máximo Gómez appointed him prefect captain of their troops in the Nueva Paz area, where he remained with his wife and children, including Marta's mother, until he died in the countryside from fever and exhaustion.

Marta Arjona grew up listening to stories of the war that her mother told her, including having met Antonio Maceo. For his part, Marta's father had joined the Liberation Army at age 17 and his service record and discharge were signed by General Carlos Roloff.

The parents met after the war ended and started a family from 1907 onward. They had four children, of which Marta Arjona would be the youngest. Marta's father died in 1931, when she was 8 years old. At age 12, she worked with one of her two sisters selling perfumery products. Her older brother joined the army as a mechanic in 1934, and died in 1936 in a car accident.

Marta Arjona completed sixth grade while working. She studied shorthand, typing, and piano, but disliked them, so she decided to enroll in the 1939-1940 course at the San Alejandro National School of Fine Arts, where she graduated with degrees in Drawing and Sculpture in 1945.

From those years she would remember with admiration and gratitude teachers such as Juan José Sucre, Armando Maribona, Manuel Vega, and Florencio Gelabert; as well as fraternal relationships with classmates such as Roberto Diago, Luis Alonso, Hernando López, among others.

In 1951 she won a scholarship to study ceramics, graduating in 1952 from L´Ecole de Metiers d´Arts Apliques in Paris.

From 1949 onward, Marta became a founding member of the Association of Painters and Sculptors of Cuba (APEC). That same year she began working at the legendary workshop in Santiago de las Vegas founded by Dr. Juan Miguel Rodríguez de la Cruz. A few years later, she opened her own workshop, where she continued creating works of delicate colors, evocative beauty, and undeniable Cuban character. From there, she advocated for the rescue of traditions, for the creation of authentic work, stripped of elitism and foreign elements, essentially popular.

She became involved during her study years with the Federation of University Students (FEU). As Secretary of Propaganda, she carried out important political work; she was a member of the National Anti-Fascist Front and the Cuban-Soviet Society. In 1953 she participated in the boycott organized by the Culture Commission of the Popular Socialist Party against activities that the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship was preparing in tribute to José Martí's birthday. Facing the II Hispano-American Art Biennial sponsored by Franco's regime, Marta coordinated its counterpart, which would popularly become known as the Anti-Biennial, in which numerous Cuban artists exhibited their works.

In 1954 she joined as a militant of the Popular Socialist Party and began working on the reorganization of the Cultural Society Nuestro Tiempo. Within it, she directed the Fine Arts section and founded a permanent gallery, in which the great masters of the Cuban modern movement exhibited—Víctor Manuel, Amelia Peláez, Carlos Enríquez—and also young creators—Raúl Martínez, René Ávila. The section organized lectures, courses, projected documentaries, but the essence of the work was to foster among Cuban creators and intellectuals an attitude of rejection and resistance to cultural activities sponsored by the dictatorship.

Following the revolutionary triumph, she held various positions successively. In March 1959 she was appointed Director of Fine Arts of the National Directorate of Culture and later National Director of Museums and Monuments of the National Council of Culture.

In 1977 she began directing the Cultural Heritage Directorate of the Ministry of Culture, a responsibility she held until her death on May 23, 2006, when she was still President of the National Council of Cultural Heritage.

Marta Arjona was also Executive Secretary of the National Commission of Monuments, President of the Cuban Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and member of its executive; Member of the Culture Commission of the Cuban National Commission of UNESCO, and of its working group for Latin American countries; Cuba's Delegate to the Intergovernmental Committee for the Return or Restitution of Cultural and Natural Property to Countries of Origin and President of the National Commission for the Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage.

One of the multiple satisfactions confessed by Marta Arjona was the creation of the country's network of museums. Before 1959, Cuba had only seven museums. On June 14, 1979, the first municipal museum was inaugurated in Manzanillo, following the enactment of Law 23 on the creation of this type of institution, which established that in each municipality of the country, a building of historical or architectural value would be adapted to preserve and display pieces that testified to national and local history.

Marta was one of the executors of national legislation for the protection of cultural and natural heritage in Cuba, which crystallized in Law No. 1 for the Protection of Cultural Heritage and Law No. 2 on National and Local Monuments. The creation of the Chair of the Bachelor's Degree in Furniture Restoration, in collaboration with the Higher Institute of Art, constitutes another of her great achievements along with the creation, in 1982, of the National Center for Conservation, Restoration and Museology (CENCREM).

In 1949, Marta Arjona was part of the group of artists who, at the beginning of the 1950s, developed Cuban ceramics, with the workshop of Juan Miguel Rodríguez de la Cruz in Santiago de las Vegas as the center. The use of new techniques and the linking of ceramics to architectural and mural projects constitute essential contributions of this group composed of figures of the caliber of Amelia Peláez, Mirta García, Rebeca García Robés and painters René Portocarrero and Mariano Rodríguez.

From 1947 onward she participated in collective exhibitions such as Sculptures, paintings and drawings of 14 exhibitors under 30 years of age. Prado and San José. CUNAIR Salon, Havana, Cuba.

In 1952 she held her personal exhibition, Ceramics: Marta Arjona. Lyceum, Havana; Cuba and Marta Arjona, Institute Endoplastique, Paris, France.

In 1988 she participated in the collective exhibition Cuban Female Creators. National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba.

In 1999 the exhibition Ceramics by Marta Arjona was presented at the National Museum of Decorative Arts, Havana.

Most of Marta's work can be seen at the Museum of Ceramics. Some of her pieces are also exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts in Havana.

Her name is also linked to the creation of important murals located at various points throughout Havana:
1955. Branches. Marta Arjona. Industria No. 270 between Neptuno and Virtudes. Centro Habana.
1955. Rooster. Marta Arjona. Industria No. 270 between Neptuno and Virtudes. Centro Habana.
1956. Abstraction. Amelia Peláez/Marta Arjona. Old BANFAIC Building, current headquarters of MININT, Plaza de la Revolución.
1956. Vegetable motif. Marta Arjona. Calle 26. No. 116 between 3rd and 5th. Miramar.
1956. Plantains. Marta Arjona. Calle 3ra. No. 3408 corner 36. Miramar.
1957. Fish. Marta Arjona. Calle 9 between A and B, Altahabana.
1957. Dove. Marta Arjona. Calle 9 between A and B. Altahabana.
1958. Angel. Hipólito Hidalgo de Caviedes/Marta Arjona. Calle 110 No. 320 corner to 5th Avenue, Miramar.
1958. History of the Reina Mercedes Hospital since its founding. Hipólito Hidalgo/Marta Arjona. Comandante Manuel Fajardo Hospital, former Reina Mercedes. Calle C between 29 and Zapata, Vedado.
1974. Rooster with fruit. Mariano Rodríguez/Marta Arjona. IPVCE Vladimir Ilich Lenin, Carretera El Globo, Calabazar.
1986. Still life with pineapple. Amelia Peláez/Marta Arjona. Photographic Archive of Cuba, Mercaderes between Teniente Rey and Muralla, Habana Vieja.

Awards
• Second Prize in Life Modeling, 1944, San Alejandro National School of Fine Arts.
• First Prize in Life Modeling, 1945, San Alejandro National School of Fine Arts.
• First Prize Inter-Student Salon, San Alejandro National School of Fine Arts.

Publications
Marta Arjona wrote the books Heritage and Identity, reissued in 2004, and Recount, a compendium of articles that, in summary, testify to the transformative work of the Revolution in the cultural sphere.

According to Marta herself, her greatest legacy to the new generations was to have contributed to fostering interest in museums and concern for the preservation of heritage, that is, of historical memory.

The artist was prouder, more than her academic titles, of the small manuscript signed by Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro, with which he placed in her hands a series of valuable art objects for safekeeping: Pepín. Chinese porcelain of jade, furniture of museum-worthy style, paintings. Deliver this to comrade Marta Arjona, Fidel Castro, Havana, June 13, 1962.

Recognition
• Order of Merit of the Ministry of Culture and Art of Poland. 1974.
• Medal of Merit of Polish Culture. 1979.
• Distinction for National Culture, awarded by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Cuba. 1981.
• Medal of Clandestine Struggle, awarded by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba. 1981.
• Alejo Carpentier Medal, awarded by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba. 1983.
• José María Heredia Medal, awarded by the Assembly of People's Power of Santiago de Cuba.
• Medal of the 30th Anniversary of the FAR, 1956-1986, awarded by the Council of State.
• Distinction August 23, awarded by the Federation of Cuban Women. 1989.
• Raúl Gómez García Medal. Central of Cuban Workers (for more than 30 years dedicated to cultural work). 1989.
• Medal PNR 30 years. Ministry of the Interior.
• Medal DSE, 30 years. Ministry of the Interior.
• Félix Varela Order, awarded by the Council of State of the Republic of Cuba. 1991.
• Ana Betancourt Order, awarded by the Council of State. 1993.
• Medal September 28. 1992.
• Medal of the 40th Anniversary of the FAR, 1956-1996, awarded by the Council of State.
• Juan Marinello Medal, awarded by the Council of State. 1996.
• Replica of the Machete of Máximo Gómez, awarded by the Minister of the FAR. 1998.
• International Award "Melina Mercouri", awarded by UNESCO and the Government of Greece. 1999.
• Distinction Axe of Holguín.
• Honorary Member of the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). 2003.
• Honorary Member of the Chair "Gonzalo de Cárdenas" of Vernacular Architecture; of the Diego de Sagredo Foundation. 2003.
• Hero of Labor of the Republic of Cuba. Council of State. 2004.
• Lázaro Peña Medal of III degree. 2004.
• Distinction Mirror of Patience awarded by the Culture Directorate of Camaguey Province. 2004.
• Honorary Doctorate Degree in Art from the Higher Institute of Art of the Ministry of Culture. 2004.
• Recognitions The Pearl and The Rosette, delivered by the Provincial Assembly and the Culture Directorate of Cienfuegos.