Nicolás Guillén Returns to the Alameda de Paula

July 27, 2019

It would be easy to imagine that it was in the Alameda de Paula where the verses of El negro mar emerged, in which, back in the nineteen forties of the past century, Nicolás Guillén metaphorically captured the nocturnal atmosphere that reigned in the Havana port and made a son flow into the Bay.

This is suggested by the statue that reproduces the dreamy figure of the poet leaning on the railing of the oldest seaside promenade in Havana, with his gaze lost in the salty waters, oblivious to those who pass by his side, while, who knows?, he waits for his melancholic Rosa.

Such is the beauty and expressiveness achieved there by the sculpture made by Enrique Angulo (Sancti Spíritus, 1947), which was officially inaugurated recently, on the occasion of thirty years having passed since July 16th of the physical disappearance of he who, for the essential Cubanness of his work, has been recognized as our National Poet.

"I came to this sculpture through a commission from the Nicolás Guillén Foundation. I worked on it for about three or four months; not counting the time the casting took," the artist explained to the Cubarte Blog, author among other works of the sculptural complex located in the guantanamera Plaza Mariana Grajales and of the plaque that commemorates the declaration of the socialist character of the Cuban Revolution, at the central corner of 23rd and 12th streets.

What did you take into account to make this sculpture?

"The poetry of Nicolás Guillén. Besides, I have the great fortune of living a block away from where he lived and I have been in contact with his family. But, above all, his poetry is what inspired me; his figure that everyone in Cuba knows.

Nicolasito, his grandson who heads the Foundation, has been my friend since childhood and provided me with several photos. Based on them I conceived this sculpture."

Why did this particular expression that the statue offers captivate you?

"He is gazing enraptured at Havana Bay because he used to come to the Alameda de Paula to relax, to enjoy this landscape. It is an expression of reflection, of introspection. He is enjoying a moment of solace, of rest."

A few years ago, you were inspired by Guillén's poem Balada de los dos abuelos to make another work…

"It is a salon sculpture that, by the way, has won two awards. One, in a triennial in Hungary, a long time ago; and another for Popularity, in a national exhibition they held in EXPOCUBA, back in the eighties."

How did that work come about?

"I have always been interested in the texture of the walls of the city of Havana. Actually, it is a pity that they are like this, but for an artist they can be very inspiring.

In my case, I have worked a lot with the figure of elderly people; then it was a counterpoint between the erosion caused by the passage of time in human beings and also in things. It is an aging, but at the same time an enrichment that intertwines both and gives it, in this case, a cultural, spiritual character.

I was thinking about that and then, reading the poem Balada de los dos abuelos by Nicolás Guillén, which is part of our culture, the inspiration came to me. It is not a racial problem, it is a problem of culture: Africa and Spain. There are the Black grandfathers, the white grandfathers; they decompose and merge into a leaf that is our culture. The work is a praise to Cuban culture."

What project are you currently working on?

"I am preparing a personal exhibition. By coincidence I am working on a sculpture that has a lot to do with Havana. Depending on what the gallery of the Cuban Fund for Cultural Assets that will host it decides, it could be seen for the city's 500th anniversary."

As an artist, what does the work of Nicolás Guillén represent for you?

"For me the work of Nicolás Guillén is a marvel. Not only because it is such Caribbean poetry; but because it is of tremendous richness, in every sense: intellectual, spiritual and it is a great reflection of Cubanness."