Cuba’s New Painter: Joaquin Tejada

"He gathers humanitarian and robust characteristics, Cuba’s new painter" Apostle Jose Marti said about a Santiago-born artist that travelled around the world to study painting and his works were later praised by numerous art critics. The Excelencias Group offers you details on the life and work of Jose Joaquin Tejada y Revilla.

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Santiago de Cuba is a land of mountains, son, boleros, guarachas, conga, carnival, mulatas and outstanding painters like Jose Joaquin Tejada y Revilla, who was born on September 18, 1867. At the age of 76 he had already been a painter, art critic and poet.

Joaquin Tejada was born in an illustrious and cult family, so he began studying painting in Cuba and continued his education in Barcelona. He made the most of that period of his life and consolidated his knowledge, enriched his technique and got in touch with universal art as he was a pupil of prestigious masters from Rome, Florence, Paris, Venice, Milan, Madrid and Amsterdam.

He returned to his homeland in order to reflect, in over one hundred paintings, distinctive elements of Cuban sceneries, such as the green color of countries, palm trees, hills. His portraits are amazing, as perfection of strokes, texture, human dimensions, colors; every single element sets an authenticity seal.

Prestigious museums on the Caribbean island and the specifically Santiago de Cuba showcase his paintings: Cabeza del Negro Alcohólico, Niño en el Jardín, Paisaje de Cataluña, Frutas, Paleta Campiña Cubana, Paisaje de Santiago de Cuba, El Callejón del Guayo, La lista de la lotería or La Confronta. This last painting is one of his finest creations and is exhibited at Emilio Bacardí Moreau Museum.

When looking at this piece, we feel like we’re watching several people that seem to be trapped in their time: young boy, dressmaker, student and employee; they are all gazing at the lottery list. The author, from his point of view, takes us into the reality of Barcelona.

El Callejón del Guayo is another work created by this artist and it establishes him as a great urban landscape painter. It’s a display of his mastery, detailed architectural elements, etc.
He was a professor and director at Santiago de Cuba’s Fine Arts municipal school, chairman of the Eastern Artistic Association and member of Havana’s National Academy of Arts and Letters. He was appointed president of the First Congress on Cuban Art.

Jose Joaquin Tejada is one of those creators that never hid the visible and spiritual problems of the world; he rather put them together by means of his colors, looking for the solution of mankind. His comprehensive artistic education since the late 19th century made him be a remarkable portraitist and landscape painter.