Soy Cuba (I Am Cuba) 1964 René Portocarrero Original Icaic Silkscreen Film Poster

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An original 1964 Cuban serigraph (silkscreen) film poster for Soy Cuba (I Am Cuba), designed by René Portocarrero (1912–1985) — … Read more An original 1964 Cuban serigraph (silkscreen) film poster for Soy Cuba (I Am Cuba), designed by René Portocarrero (1912–1985) — one of the towering figures of 20th-century Cuban modernism. The image is a riot of red, black, and white over a vivid yellow field, framed in cobalt blue and grass green: a swirling, mask-like profile that fuses Cuban vanguardia, Pop, and folk-baroque sensibilities into something unmistakably Portocarrero. Signed and dated in the plate, "PORTOCARRERO 64."

What makes this poster special is the convergence of two icons. Soy Cuba — directed by Mikhail Kalatozov with legendary cinematography by Sergei Urusevsky for ICAIC in co-production with Mosfilm — was largely forgotten after its 1964 release, then rediscovered in 1992 and championed by Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, who backed its international restoration. It's now regarded as one of the most extraordinary films ever shot. Portocarrero designed not only this poster but the film's costumes, making the piece a rare intersection of two of his most celebrated contributions.

ICAIC posters from this revolutionary-cinema era are collected by the Museum of Modern Art, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and Georgetown University Library, among others. Unlike commercial movie posters, ICAIC commissioned genuine artists to create original works — so each is as much a fine-art print as a promotional piece. I love this one for its sheer graphic punch: hand-pulled ink with real surface texture, color that hasn't dulled, and a composition that holds a wall the way few vintage posters do. See less