# Cuban Revolutionary Poster (OSPAAAL & ICAIC)

> The poster culture of revolutionary Cuba, produced for the film institute ICAIC and the solidarity organisation OSPAAAL. With no commercial advertising and scarce materials, designers made bold silkscreen and offset posters that combined Pop and psychedelic colour, op-art pattern, flat silhouettes and single conceptual images, for cinema and for internationalist causes from Vietnam to Africa.

- Period: 1960–1990
- Where: Latin America & Caribbean
- Origin: Havana, Cuba (ICAIC film institute, OSPAAAL and state propaganda bodies)
- Branch: Pictorial & machine age
- Also known as: Cuban poster, Cartel cubano, Tricontinental posters
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/cuban-poster/

## How it works

- Reduce the message to one emblematic image: a silhouette, a symbol or a conceptual visual pun.
- Print flat, saturated layers in silkscreen and let bright, unexpected colour combinations carry the energy.
- For film posters, interpret the film metaphorically rather than showing stills or stars.
- Treat portraits and photographs as high-contrast silhouettes or posterised flat shapes.
- Set solidarity slogans in a plain sans-serif and repeat them in several languages for international circulation.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Isolated object](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/isolated-object/) (characteristic)
- [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (characteristic)
- [Full bleed](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-bleed/) (characteristic)
- [Radial & concentric](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/radial-and-concentric/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (defining)
- [Repetition & rhythm](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/) (occasional)
- [Extreme scale contrast](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/extreme-scale-contrast/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (characteristic)
- [All caps](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-caps/) (characteristic)
- [Grotesque & neo-grotesque](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/grotesque-and-neo-grotesque/) (occasional)
- [Ornamented display](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/ornamented-display/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (defining)
- [Full polychrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-polychrome/) (characteristic)
- [Complementary clash](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/complementary-clash/) (characteristic)
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (characteristic)

### Form & shape
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (defining)
- [Optical pattern](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/optical-pattern/) (occasional)
- [Geometric primitives](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-primitives/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (defining)
- [Misregistration & overprint](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/misregistration-and-overprint/) (occasional)
- [Halftone & Ben-Day dots](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/halftone-and-ben-day-dots/) (occasional)

### Ornament
- [Restrained accents](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/restrained-accents/) (characteristic)
- [Emblems & badges](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/emblems-and-badges/) (occasional)

### Imagery
- [Flat vector illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-vector-illustration/) (characteristic)
- [Treated photography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/treated-photography/) (characteristic)
- [Icons & pictograms](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/icons-and-pictograms/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Screen printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/screen-printing/) (defining)
- [Offset printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/offset-printing/) (characteristic)

### Tone & intent
- [Agitational & persuasive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/agitational-and-persuasive/) (defining)
- [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (characteristic)
- [Utopian & idealistic](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/utopian-and-idealistic/) (characteristic)
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (occasional)

Avoids: Naturalistic depiction, Straight photography, Abundant decoration, Horror vacui, Gloss & highlights, Blackletter

Palette: #f2ede0, #1c1c1c, #e3342b, #f5b81c, #d6337a, #2d8a57

Typefaces: Hand-cut silkscreen display lettering, Neo-grotesque sans captions repeated in Spanish, English, French and Arabic (OSPAAAL), Psychedelic and op-art hand-drawn letterforms (ICAIC film posters)

Known for: OSPAAAL (Organization of Solidarity with the Peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America, founded 1966); ICAIC (Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry, founded 1959); Alfredo Rostgaard (Hanoi, Martes 13, 1967); Elena Serrano (Day of the Heroic Guerrilla, 1968); Eduardo Muñoz Bachs; René Azcuy; Antonio Fernández Reboiro; Tricontinental magazine (from 1967)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Polish Poster School](https://stylogeny.com/styles/polish-poster-school.md) (1950–1990)
- Influenced by: [Pop Art Graphics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/pop-art.md) (1955–1975)
- Influenced by: [Psychedelic Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/psychedelic.md) (1965–1973)
- Influenced by: [Taller de Gráfica Popular](https://stylogeny.com/styles/taller-grafica-popular.md) (1937–1977)
- Led to: [Chilean Unidad Popular & Nueva Canción Graphics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/chilean-unidad-popular.md) (1967–1973)
- Alike in its design choices: [Australian Poster Collective Screenprints](https://stylogeny.com/styles/australian-poster-collectives.md) (1971–1994), 78% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [WPA Silkscreen Posters](https://stylogeny.com/styles/wpa-poster.md) (1935–1943), 77% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Chicano Screenprint Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/chicano-poster.md) (1965–present), 75% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Turkish Modernist Poster & Graphic Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/turkish-modernist-graphics.md) (1959–2000), 69% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Pop Achorado (Peruvian Agrarian Reform Posters)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/pop-achorado.md) (1969–1975), 69% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Illustrated Rom-Com Book Cover (Cartoon Couple Cover)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/illustrated-romcom-cover.md) (2016–present), 68% alike

## Real works

- [Hanoi, martes 13](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O692907/): Alfredo Rostgaard, 1967, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (E.454-1968)
- [Solidarity with the African American People, August 18, 1968](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O102211/): Lázaro Abreu (after a drawing by Emory Douglas), 1968, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (E.798-2004)
- [De la guerra americana](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O113139/): René Azcuy, 1969, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (E.766-2003)
- [10 aniversario de los CDR](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O113147/): Eduardo Muñoz Bachs, 1970, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (E.770-2003)
- [South Africa / Sudáfrica / Afrique du Sud (OSPAAAL solidarity poster)](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1439093/): Rafael Enríquez, 1983, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (E.362-2018)

## Sources

- Lincoln Cushing, ¡Revolución! Cuban Poster Art (2003)
- Richard Frick, OSPAAAL: The Tricontinental Solidarity Poster (2003)
- Georgetown University Library, 'Soy Cuba: The Art of the Film Poster in Cuba' (library.georgetown.edu)

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Cuban Revolutionary Poster (OSPAAAL & ICAIC)”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/cuban-poster/