Conrado Walter Massaguer

Conrado Walter Massaguer
Public Relations Director of the Cuban Institute of Tourism
In office
1952–1960
President
Creator and Publisher of Carteles Magazine
In office
1919–1953
Succeeded byMiguel Ángel Quevedo
Personal details
BornMarch 3, 1889
Cárdenas, Cuba
DiedOctober 18, 1965
Havana
Awards
  • Knight of the National Order Carlos Manuel de Céspedes *Commander of the National Order of the Red Cross *Knight of the Finlay Order
NicknameEl César de la Caricatura

Conrado Walter Massaguer y Diaz was a Cuban artist, political satirist, and magazine publisher.[1][2][3][4] He is considered a student of the Art Nouveau.[5] He was the first caricaturist in the world to broadcast his art on television.[5] He was first caricaturist to exhibit on Fifth Avenue.[5] He was the first caricaturist in the world to exhibit his caricatures on wood.[5] He was the first media publisher in Cuba to use photolithographic printing.[5]

Self portrait of Conrado Walter Massaguer, depicted on a carrousel ride, with the devil over his left shoulder and an angel over his right. (1945)

He created the magazine Social with his brother Oscar to showcase Cuban artistic talent. He later created the magazine Carteles, which became for a period the most popular magazine in Cuba, which was purchased by Miguel Ángel Quevedo in 1953.

In his life, he met and drew caricatures of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Walt Disney, Albert Einstein, the King of Spain, and many others.[6] In sum total, he was the author of more than 28 thousand caricatures and drawings.[7] Ernest Hemingway once had to refrain himself from punching Massaguer in the face after the artist drew an unflattering caricature of him.[5] The dictator Gerardo Machado, however, did not punch Massaguer for his own unflattering caricature - he had the artist deported.

He was one of the most internationally renowned Cuban artists of his day, and his art is still regularly featured in galleries across the Western Hemisphere and Europe.[1]

  1. ^ a b "Cuban Caricature and Culture: The Art of Massaguer". Google Arts & Culture. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  2. ^ Cárdenas, Patricia. "Cuban Caricature and Culture: The Art of Massaguer on display at Wolfsonian–FIU". FIU News. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  3. ^ "Conrado Massaguer | Cuba Project". Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  4. ^ Heller, Steven (2020-12-30). "The Daily Heller: Cuba's Most Stylish Illustrator". PRINT Magazine. Retrieved 2024-10-01.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Cite error: The named reference :8 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Communications, Florida International University-Digital. "Cuban Caricature and Culture: The Art of Massaguer". wolfsonian.org. Retrieved 2024-10-05.
  7. ^ Camero, Angela Oramas (2019-08-13). "Conrado Massaguer: periodismo y caricatura costumbrista". Cubaperiodistas (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-10-05.