Marcelo Pogolotti
Period: The Vanguard
1902 - 1988

Heaven and Earth
El Cielo y la Tierra, ca 1934
charcoal on heavy paper laid down on board
18 3/5 x 25 inches


Marcelo Pogolotti was born in Havana, Cuba in 1902. He attended several engineering courses in the United States, studied painting at the Art Student's League in New York, and for a few years received lessons in literature and philosophy in Havana. In 1927 he participated in the First Exhibition of New Art. From 1928 to 1940, Pogolotti lived in Paris and exhibited his work in various European cities. He was invited to join the Italian futuristic movement and in 1931, with a group of Italian painters, exhibited his paintings at the Royale Gallery in Paris. As a member of the First Group of Social Painters of Europe, he participated in exhibitions of social paintings in Paris in 1933 and 1935. He presented personal exhibitions at the museums of Fine Art in Mexico in 1946 and Havana in 1940, as well as numerous collective shows. His paintings are largely devoted to social themes where pain, suffering, and the economic exploitation of the working poor are depicted.