Cuban Painter Juan Moreira, Illustrator of Don Quixote, Dies

The painter Juan Moreira illustrated the edition of Don Quijote that was produced in 1972 in Cuba, replacing the Frenchman Gustavo Doré’s illustrations. (Prensa Latina)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 18 October 2022 — The plastic artist Juan Moreira, known for being the first Cuban painter to illustrate Don Quijote de la Mancha in a Cuban edition, died this Monday in Havana at the age of 83, the Ministry of Culture confirmed to official media.

Born in Havana in 1938, he assisted the Chilean painter, José Venturelli, in designing the murals of the Hotel Habana Libre and the buildings where the official agency Prensa Latina was founded. He also created portraits of friends, ornamental designs and paintings with erotic content. He was a member of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) and the International Association of Plastic Artists.

His works have been exhibited in museums in Havana and in galleries in Poland, Austria, Jamaica, Germany, the United States and Canada. There are also pieces by the Cuban artist in the personal collections of King Emeritus Juan Carlos of Spain, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and in the United Nations building in Geneva.

The press, which praised the artist who remained “firm to the Nation,” recalled that he was a drawing teacher at the San Alejandro Professional School of Plastic Arts, where he directed more than twenty personal exhibitions and collective shows.

Moreira received the first Drawing Award from the Provincial Salon of Teachers and Instructors of Plastic Arts in Havana in 1973. A decade later, in 1984, he received an honorable mention in the Biennale de Pintura Kosice, in Czechoslovakia. In 2001, he was awarded third prize in the painting competition of the Nicomedes García Gómez Foundation, held in Segovia, Spain.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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