ADIGIO BENÍTEZ JIMENO (Santiago de Cuba, 1924 - Havana, 2013). "Love in Tierra Brava", 2002. Acrylic on canvas. Signed and dated in the lower right corner. Titled on the back. Purchase invoice and export certificate enclosed. Measurements: 169,5 x 90 cm. We are before a paradigmatic example of the plastic language that won Adigio Benítez recognition inside and outside Cuba: the folkloric theme, impregnated with mythical dyes, is combined with an avant-garde style of cubist inheritance. Although this heritage is evident, cubism has been distilled by a resoundingly personal work. Trained at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes de San Alejandro in Havana, Adigio Benítez is an outstanding painter and poster artist. Since the mid-1940s, his caricatures and political drawings have appeared in various publications of the progressive press of the time. His first oil paintings date from 1953, when he began a prolific career as a painter, draughtsman and graphic designer. He was a founding professor at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas and the Instituto Superior de Arte. In 1987, this institute awarded him the special teaching category of Professor of Merit. Throughout his career, Adigio Benítez has had around twenty personal exhibitions and has participated in more than one hundred national and international group exhibitions. In 1960 he was present at the group exhibition of the Second Inter-American Biennial of Mexico. Palacio de Bellas Artes, Museo Nacional de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico; in 1961 he was in the VI Biennial of Sâo Paulo Museu de Arte Moderna. Ibirapuera Park, Sâo Paulo (Brazil); in 1962 he took part in the group show at the VII Sâo Paulo Biennial. Ibirapuera Park, Sâo Paulo, (Brazil); in 1966 he did the same with Contemporary Cuban Painting at the Due Mondi Galleria d arte internazionale, Rome (Italy); in 1984 he took part in the 1st Havana Biennial. National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana. He has received many distinctions, including the National Museum of Fine Arts in 2002, awarded by the National Council of Fine Arts of the Cuban Ministry of Culture. His works can currently be found in the Cuban Art Collection of the National Museum of Fine Arts, as well as in other institutions and public and private collections such as the Casa de las Américas in Havana, the Cuban Fund of Cultural Goods in Havana, the Higher Institute of Art (ISA), also in Havana, and the Ignacio Agramonte Museum, Camagüey (Cuba).