Cuba Style: Graphics from the Golden Age of Design (Paperback)

~ S Heller (Author), V Levi (Author) "THE BIKINI - CLAD COLOSSUS (OPPOSITE) TOWERING OVER THE TINY island of Cuba personifies a myth inverted by the travel industry that was common during..." (more)
Key Phrases: cigar label, graphic style, North American

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the national republic of Cuba. To usher in the centenary, Steven Heller and Vicki Gold Levi have collected hundreds of vintage graphics of Cuba from the 1920s to the 1969 revolution. Cuba Style recalls the days of glory when the island was a veritable resort colony for Americans and Europeans who came in search of Latino music and dancing, gambling, tropical romance, and the best beaches in the Americas.

To advertise these attractions, Cubano graphistos combined elements of Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Bauhaus modernism, and Vegas-style kitsch in a distinctly Cuban sensibility. Cuba Style, the first book of its kind, reproduces a treasure trove of graphics from popular magazines, packaging, posters, and indigenous products such as liquor and cigars. It is a visual history of Cuba in its golden age as well as a wellspring of capitalist extravagance, seen here through the rare graphics of its extraordinary and now lost popular culture.

About the Author

Steven Heller is senior art director for the New York Times and author of over seventy books on art, popular culture, and design, including Counter Culture.

Vicki Gold Levi is a historical picture editor, photography curator, and author who has worked for Esquire, Mirabella, and New Woman.

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press; 1 edition (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568983603
• ISBN-13: 978-1568983608
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #275,375 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice!, August 16, 2007

By	D. Atkins (Chicago, Il) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Like anything by Steven Heller, there's tons of amazing imagery in this book. Great for the price! Fun & exotic!

5.0 out of 5 stars Cuba Style : Graphics from the Golden Age of Design , July 10, 2006

By	Jorge I. Aunon "cubano Jorge" (Alabama USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Ahhh, nostalgia. Nothing but that. Excellent, outstanding...

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Graphics, not Propaganda, August 15, 2007

By	L. L (north bergen, new jersey United States) - See all my reviews

I haven't finished it and I can say that this book is a "must have", this images are worth not a thousand words but a million words (any Cuban could give you a million words speech in a matter of five minutes), this book is going to solve me just that, whenever somebody would ask me questions about Cuba before Castro, all I have to do is show them this book. This book will show you exactly what Graphics and Arts, in general, were before Castro, not the political propaganda that it became after the revolution-take as an example the image of Murder, Che Guevara, shown all over Cuba promising you "Victory"-. For some, this book will bring back memories and nostalgia, for others like me, born and raised during the communist period, a confirmation that things were a lot better, not perfect, not the paradise they proclaimed it was, simply the place to be, it was for most Cubans the place to be born Cuban and die Cuban.