1924 Signed Letter by Afro-Cuban Historian FERNANDO ORTIZ to CONRADO MASSAGUER. Dated in New York on April 15, 1924. 7 1/2 x 10 inches. Personal letter written by on of the most important Cuban historians addressed to caricature master Massaguer. Written in new York on letterhead from hotel’Waldorf Astoria’. Fernando Ortiz Fernández (Havana, 16 July 1881 Havana, 10 April 1969) was a Cuban essayist, anthropologist, ethnomusicologist and scholar of Afro-Cuban culture. Ortiz was a prolific polymath dedicated to exploring, recording, and understanding all aspects of indigenous Cuban culture. Ortiz coined the term “transculturation, ” the notion of converging cultures. Disillusioned with politics in the early period of Cuban history and having been a member of President Gerardo Machado’s Liberal Party, and a Liberal member of its House of Representatives from 1917 to 1922, he became active in the early nationalist civic revival movement. Throughout his life Ortiz was involved in the foundation of institutions and journals dedicated to the study of Cuban culture. He was the cofounder of the Cuban Academy of the Language in 1926. He also founded Surco (founded 1930) and Ultra (193647), both journals that provided commentary on foreign journals. In 1937 he founded the Sociedad de Estudios Afrocubanos (Society of Afro-Cuban Studies) and the journal Estudios Afrocubanos (Afro-Cuban Studies). He helped found the journals Revista Bimestre Cubana, Archivos del Folklore Cubano, and Estudios Afrocubanos. Ortiz also developed a theory of activism within Cuba’s political system. He said that Afro-Cubans had been characterized negatively based on their African descent, and traits said to be primitive. He wanted to show the true nature of their culture: its language, music and other arts. His books, La Africania de la Musica Folklorica de Cuba (1950), and Los Instrumentos de la Musica Afrocubana (1952 – 1955) are still regarded as key references in the study of Afro-Cuban music. Fernando Ortiz died in Havana in 1969 and was interred there in the Colon Cemetery. Massaguer is remembered as the dominant force in graphic arts and popular periodicals in Cuba from the 1910s through the 1950s. During his long career, Massaguer created and published a number of magazines, including the highly influential Social and the widely popular Carteles. Citing Charles Dana Gibson and James Montgomery Flagg as influences, Massaguer developed a distinctive visual style in illustration and caricature, creating an instantly identifiable modernist look in his magazine covers and ads whose impact spread across Latin America. His sense of style extended to layout and content, modernizing and updating the Belle Epoque aesthetic previously dominant in Cuba. He was a founding member of the influential association of artists, writers, and theorists, the Grupo Minorista, whose Saturday lunches drew leading national and international artists and intellectuals. In addition to his activities in Cuba, Massaguer was famous internationally as an illustrator and caricaturist, publishing caricatures and illustration in Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and other American publications along with French and German magazines. He was active against the repressive Machadato, the regime of the dictator Gerardo Machado. Condition; Good with minor wear. The item “1924 Signed Letter by Afro-Cuban Historian FERNANDO ORTIZ to CONRADO MASSAGUER” is in sale since Monday, November 25, 2019. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Autographs\Celebrities”. The seller is “old_world_collectibles” and is located in Toronto, Ontario. This item can be shipped worldwide.

• Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
• Original/Reproduction: Original
• Celebrity: Fernando Ortiz & Conrado Massaguer
• Autograph Authentication: Dariusz Wojcik Authentication (DWA)