Loló Soldevilla's "Revolutionary" Abstraction

Cuban abstract artist Dolores “Loló” Soldevilla was one of many artists in the mid-twentieth century grappling with the global Cultural Cold War’s heightened polemic of abstraction versus figuration. For Soldevilla, the battle to prove abstraction’s modern social relevancy would reach its peak in the sociopolitical context of Fidel Castro’s communist Cuba after the Cuban Revolution of 1959. With mounting critical and revolutionary rhetoric against an abstract visual language, Castro’s Cuba all but required figurative art with pro-revolutionary content. Soldevilla returns to this stifling environment after a formative experience within the dynamic artist community of 1950s Paris. It is there, amongst both European and Latin American peers, that Soldevilla cemented the socially transformative abstraction she would confidently bring back to the island and apply to Cuba’s new revolutionary demands. Through a combination of her undeniably singular abstract aesthetic, her ability to showcase abstraction’s multiplicity, and a strategic presentation of her abstract productions post-1959, Soldevilla managed to persevere in a post-revolutionary climate determined to exclude her and remained steadfast in her belief of abstraction’s social relevance. This research establishes Soldevilla’s legacy of resilience and rightfully positions her as a pivotal figure of modern abstraction across Europe, Latin America, and Cuba.