René de la Nuez Robaina

Plastic artist, journalist, professor, humorist and cartoonist. Creator of the satirical-popular characters "El Loquito", "Don Ozaño" and "Mogollón".

He has participated in numerous national exhibitions and has shown his works in different countries. Considered among the one hundred most important cartoonists in the world. He has been awarded various national and international orders and distinctions. National Prize for Plastic Arts 2007.

He was born in San Antonio de los Baños, Havana. Graduated in Journalism from the University of Havana. Member of the Union of Journalists of Cuba (UPEC) and the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC).

He began as a cartoonist in Páginas, a magazine from his native town, and later in the weekly newspaper Zig Zag (1956). He once recounted that his first cartoon, which earned him a contract at Zig Zag, was about the nationalization of the Suez Canal. It showed the then British Prime Minister in front of a television on whose screen nothing was visible and it said: "I have lost the channel".

Creator in 1957 of the character El Loquito who, over time, would mock censorship and become a critic of Batista's dictatorship.

After the triumph of the Revolution, he became a cartoonist for the newspaper Revolución, while collaborating with Mella magazine, the newspaper La Tarde, the National TV News and other publications. Founder of the newspaper Granma, where he worked for several years.

He was a cartoonist and director of Palante. He created other characters such as El Barbudo, Mogoñón and Don Cizaño.

He published more than 50,000 cartoons during the first 30 years of the revolution. Winner of numerous international and national awards. He won the Juan Gualberto Gómez Prize in 1960, First Prize in the Cartoon category.

Personal Exhibitions

- 1956 Tribute to humorists José Luis Posada and René de la Nuez. Círculo de Artesanos, San Antonio de los Baños.
- 1961 Nuez Antiimperialist. Art Room of the National Printing House, Hotel Habana Libre, Havana.
- 1963 Nuez, humorous drawings; Mayito, photographs. Exhibition Hall of the Cultural Circle "Ercires Pérez", Jatibonico, Camagüey. The popular theme. Humorous drawings. Galería Habana.
- 1974 Fascism in Chile. Drawings-caricatures by René de la Nuez. In tribute to the Constitutional President of Chile Dr. Salvador Allende and his people. Galería L (September), Galería Eduardo Abela, San Antonio de los Baños (November).
- 1977 Exhibition of Humorous Caricatures. Casa de la Cultura Cubana, Prague. Nuez; 20 years of El Loquito, Círculo de Artesanos, San Antonio de los Baños, Havana. Vietnam day by day, exhibition of caricatures by René de la Nuez on the occasion of the 87th anniversary of Ho Chi Minh's birth, Galería Amelia Peláez, Parque Lenin, Havana.
- 1978 Cuban Humor by Nuez. Museum of Contemporary Art, Bosque Cauhtémoc, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico. Fayad Jamís and René de la Nuez, Department of Fine Arts, Patio de los Ángeles, Jalisco, Mexico. Cuban Caricatures; René de la Nuez, Cuban Institute, Veracruzana University, Veracruz, Mexico. Nuez's Caricature in the World, Galería L, Havana.
- 1979 Two cartoonists on guard, Heras, Mexico, Nuez, Cuba. Exhibition of caricatures commemorating the XXth Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, Regional Institute of Fine Arts of Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico. Bearded ones for the gathering, Ceramic Workshop, Parque Lenin, Havana.
- 1980 International Exhibition René de la Nuez and Carlucho. Exhibition Room of the Fatil cinema theater, Moscow.
- 1981 René de la Nuez, Political Caricature of Cuba, Galería ZB, Vienna. The humor that daily... Drawings by René de la Nuez, Managua.
- 1983 Humor at first sight, Galería Plaza Vieja, Fondo Cubano de Bienes Culturales, Havana.
- 1984 René de la Nuez, caricatures and satirical drawings. Galería Am Prater, Regional House of Culture, Berlin.
- 1985 Nuez, Thirty years of his... first drawing. IX Week of Ariguanabense Culture, San Antonio de los Baños, Havana. Nuez 30, tribute to René de la Nuez on Journalism Day, Galería Servando Cabrera Moreno, Havana.
- 1985 External Debt and Peace, Museum of the March of the Fighting People, Havana.
- 1986 All of Nuez's Humor. Retrospective exhibition at the National Museum of Fine Arts.
- 1987 Ogo, the scribble; Drawings by Nuez. Gallery of the Wilfredo Lam Center. Havana.
- 1988 René de la Nuez, Drawings-Paintings. Espacio Latinoamericano. Paris, France.
- 1989 The aché of the Otanes. Cuban Culture Day, Toronto, Canada. René de la Nuez. Picasso's Workshop, Barcelona, Spain.
- 1990 Mother of the World, Acrylics. National Museum, Castillo de la Real Fuerza, Havana.
- 1991 New drawings by Nuez in Barcelona, Spain. Transgressions, Acrylics at Galería Servando Cabrera Moreno, Playa, Havana.
- 2005 Havana Humor, Galería Espacio Abierto, Revolución y Cultura magazine. Humor Por Esto!, laughter against terrorism, headquarters of the Cuban Movement for Peace.
- 2007 ¿!Loco yo?!, tribute to the fiftieth anniversary of El Loquito's birth, Galería Villa Manuela, Havana.

Other Professional Activities

- 1955 He publishes his first drawings in Páginas magazine, from the Círculo de Artesanos of his native town.
- 1956 He begins working in the weekly newspaper Zig-Zag.
- 1957 On February 2, the character El Loquito created by Nuez is published for the first time in Zig-Zag.
- 1959 He creates Don Cizaño and begins drawing his Bearded ones, emblem of the Cuban people after the Revolution's triumph.
- 1961 He is elected member of the National Secretariat of UPEC and delegate to the UNEAC Congress.
- 1962 He draws in the trenches during the October Crisis. Delegate to the World Festival of Youth and Students in Helsinki, Finland.
- 1965 Founder of the newspaper Granma, where he worked systematically for decades.
- 1966 He obtains the Hernández Cárdenas prize in local customs humor, within the framework of the National Salon of Humorists.
- 1967 He is appointed director of the Weekly Palante.
- 1972 He obtains first prizes in Political Humor and Customs Humor at the III National Salon of Humor.
- 1974 He obtains first prizes in Customs Humor and Personal Caricature, and second prize in Political Humor at the V National Salon of Humor.
- 1975 Appointed president of the Humorists Section of UPEC and member of the Committee of Solidarity with Vietnam. He obtains first prizes in Customs Humor, Political, Blank and Personal Caricature at the VI National Salon of Humor.
- 1976 Selected among the one hundred best cartoonists in the world, according to a survey promoted by the House of Humor and Satire of Gabrovo, Bulgaria.
- 1978 Member of the Cuban Movement for Peace.
- 1979 President of the International Jury of the I Biennial of Humor held in San Antonio de los Baños. Within the framework of the event he wins the Krokodil prize, from the USSR, for his work In the Year of the Child.
- 1981 He graduates with a degree in Journalism from the University of Havana. Appointed vice president of the Cuban chapter of the Antiimperialist Court of Our America (TANA). President of the jury of the II Biennial of Humor held in San Antonio de los Baños. He obtains the prize awarded by the weekly Eulenspiegel of the German Democratic Republic for the work The Hen That Laid the Golden Eggs.
- 1983 Jury member of the UNEAC Fine Arts Competition. Delegate to the World Peace Congress in Prague. President of the jury of the III Biennial of Humor in San Antonio de los Baños. Within the framework of the event he wins the Jean Effel prize for his work Life Will Prevail.
- 1984 Jury member of the "Antiimperialist Caricature" contest sponsored by TANA, Nicaragua.
- 1985 President of the Jury of the IV International Biennial of Humor held in San Antonio de los Baños. At the event he obtains the special prize of the Weekly Dokobraz. He attends the meeting of presidents of Unions of Plastic Artists of Socialist Countries.

Distinctions

- 1959 Prize awarded by the Ministry of Education and the General Directorate of Culture to the cartoonist who most helped the revolutionary struggle.
- 1960 National Juan Gualberto Gómez Prize.
- 1974 José Martí Stamp.
- 1975 Ho Chi Minh Gold Stamp.
- 1975 Distinction of Internationalist Journalist.
- 1980 Lázaro Peña Order of the First Degree.
- 1980 Medal of the Soviet Trade Unions.
- 1980 Distinction for Cuban Culture.
- 1980 Medal of Joint Flight Cuba-USSR.
- 1981 Medal XXX Anniversary of the World Peace Council.
- 1982 Friendship Medal from the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
- 1982 Raúl Gómez García Distinction.
- 1988 Alejo Carpentier Medal.
- 1989 Certificate of Recognition from the Latin American Federation of Journalists.
- 2007 Gold Medal of the Graphic Humor Biennial, Castilla, Spain.

René de la Nuez died in Havana at the age of 77 after being hospitalized for several weeks.