Bastardos con Gloria at San Alejandro’s fine arts school

It doesn’t take a master of the Spanish language to get a take on Michael Herrera’s Bastardos con Gloria which featured as part of the collective exhibitions at the prestigious San Alejandro’s arts school in Mariano (Havana). In fact this location was host to some of the best exhibitions and exhibits during the course of the Biennial. The building itself is a trip…

Home (The 2012 Havana Biennial Art Exhibition )

What is San Alejandro Arts School?

Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes “San Alejandro” is the oldest and most prestigious fine arts school in Cuba. It is located in Marianao a suburb of Havana. It was founded in 1818 at the Convent of San Alejandro by the French painter, Jean Baptiste Vermay, who was its first director. It is located today in a monumental building built in the early 1940s.

The internal life at San Alejandro is governed by the Board of Directors who in turn appoints the Technical Council, who in turn run the different departments that make up the teaching faculty.

The Board of Directors consists of the Director and Deputy Director and the Secretaries Speciality Teaching, Education, Health Care-Economic, Business and Education.

The Technical Board, in turn, is the body responsible for representing the teaching faculty to the Board of Directors. It consists of all deans of each departments. These are the Deans of Drawing, Painting, Engraving, Sculpture, Ceramics, Jewelry, Graphic Arts and Theoretical-Cultural Teachings. Originally a conservative institute, San Alejandro has now become a symbol of what the revolution has done for the Cuban education system.

San Alejandro has exchanges with many schools abroad, in the UK it is The Cardinal Wiseman Roman Catholic School. Other the past 3 years, 3 exchanges have taken place. The exchanges consisted of the students from Wiseman travelling to Cuba in February, and the Cuban students coming to London in June.

Bastardos con Gloria at San Alejandro’s fine arts school

Jun / 2012

Home (The 2012 Havana Biennial Art Exhibition )

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