![]() ![]() But the effect could be blunted by the world financial crisis. Congress lifts all travel restrictions, prices would likely go higher as more Americans visit. Pre-Bush interest drove prices up to international standards and they have not come down.Īnyone coming to Havana should expect to pay between $750 and $5,000 for photographs, $1,500 to $45,000 for drawings and $2,500 to $30,000 for a painting, collectors said. But one thing they will not find is bargains. Congress passes pending bills that would lift the ban on Cuban travel for all Americans, a move the Obama administration has said it would not oppose.Īmerican interest in Cuban art flourished in the 1990s, when the island’s socialist system was shaken by the implosion of the Soviet Union, Cuba’s biggest benefactor for three decades, and artists started to reflect the woes of a drifting society in their work.Īmericans visiting the island will find lots of the vibrant, colorful art that Cuban artists favor. Under Obama, they said the licensing process has become less arduous and there is less fear of making the Cuba trip illegally because they view prosecution as less likely.Īnd things would change dramatically if the U.S. law by traveling through a third country - risking thousands of dollars in penalties. “My guess is that there were at least 1,000 Americans walking around and 95 percent of them were here because either they wanted to buy work or because they were curators or (worked for) nonprofit (organizations),” she said.įor the past few years only a handful of collectors were able to come legally by obtaining licenses from the U.S. “Cuba has been sort of the forbidden fruit for some years because it has been so hard to travel here,” said Cuban-born Ben Rodriguez-Cubenas, chairman of the Cuban Artist Fund, which promotes Cuban art, and also collector and program director for the New York-based Rockefeller Brothers Fund. ![]() The United States was prepared to move further toward normalized relations, he said, if Cuba extended its hand.Īll of this has been music to the ears of Cuban artists glad to see the well-heeled gringos back in town. Obama offered to “recast” Washington’s relationship with its Cold War-era enemy last month and granted Cuban Americans the right to freely travel and send remittances to Cuba. policy toward Cuba under President Barack Obama and a U.S. Their presence reflected both newly relaxed U.S. Hundreds showed up for the just-ended Havana Biennial arts festival that was a regular stop for art buyers before a Bush administration travel crackdown earlier this decade. gallery owners, museum directors, curators and collectors are returning to the island to view and buy the work of Cuban artists. REUTERS/Enrique De La OsaĪfter being largely absent in recent years, U.S. and Cuba governments have taken the first, tentative steps toward ending 50 years of hostilities, but the thawing of relations is already in full swing in the arts world. Homepage: Download link rapidgator.Collages are seen inside the home of Cuban artist Damian Aquiles in Havana April 28, 2009. What News? Official site does not provide any info about changes in this version.
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