To our collector, interior designer and eBay friends worldwide: The Cuban Poster Gallery in Washington D.C. is offering a large selection of authentic, handmade Cuban silk-screen posters, many of which work beautifully well together. We invite you to visit our eBay Store                   ( stores.ebay.com/CubanPosterGallery ) to see them all! Please check back often as we will be adding additional Cuban movie, political and cultural posters and drawings in the coming months. The Cuban Poster Gallery appreciates your business.


Our price for this poster is $289.   The Cuban Poster Gallery is delighted to have acquired CHE #11, a rarely seen, screen-printed Pop Art poster that salutes the Cuban revolutionary leader Ernesto "CHE" Guevara (1928-1967). This poster is a hard-to-find workshop proof that was screen-printed in Havana in 2014 as part of a portfolio of posters that celebrated the work of famed Cuban artist Olivio Martinez Vera. This poster (and the others in this portfolio) was hand-signed by the artist, who passed away in 2021. 


Over a career that spanned five decades, Olivio Martinez Vera (1941-2021) created some of the most iconic images of CHE GUEVARA, who was executed in Bolivia in 1967 while on a mission to overthrow that South American nation's United States-backed government. Most of Martinez's early posters in the 1960s and 1970s were printed by offset in a smaller format. The posters in his 2014 portfolio, including the one in this listing, were made in a larger format, using the silk-screening process, resulting in bolder colors than the earlier versions. Each of these screen-prints measures approximately 27 1/2 by 19 1/2 inches (70 by 50 cm).

Olivio Martinez Vera's posters can be found in prominent collections, art books and museums worldwide, including the Victoria & Albert in London, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris. 


The poster in this listing was screen-printed in the Rene Portocarrero screen-print workshop in the historic Habana Vieja neighborhood of the Cuban capital. 

 

Olivio Martinez Vera titled the poster CHE 11 to differentiate it from the other screen-prints in the portfolio. The bottom border contains (hand-written in pencil) the title of the poster (CHE 11), Martinez's signature, the date he signed the poster (September 2, 2014) and the words Prueba del Taller (Workshop Proof). 


A word about the proofs: after the printing of each screen-print, the Portocarrero workshop typically reserves a small number (usually 10 or fewer) for its archives and to offer to dignitaries. This is one of those proofs! All told, we believe fewer than 100 copies of this poster were made for sale to the public in 2014. These posters quickly sold out.     

Overall condition of this handmade Pop Art poster is good with only minor imperfections (we noted a small spec above one of Che Guevara's eyebrows as well as some scuffs). Please see the photos we have posted. The colors on this screen-print are brilliant. Buy with 100 percent confidence; posters purchased from the Cuban Poster Gallery on eBay can be returned for any reason within 30 days.


About shipping: Buyers with an address in the United States, your purchase will be shipped FREE by USPS Ground Advantage or UPS with delivery confirmation. For international buyers (outside of the United States), eBay will calculate the cost of shipping and any required Customs duties and taxes. 


TITLE: CHE 11 

DESIGNER: Olivio Martinez Vera (1941-2021)


MEDIUM: Silk-screen / Serigraph


SIGNED: Yes, by the artist's hand


SIZE: approximately 19 1/2 x 27 1/2 inches; 50 x 70 cm


DATE: 2014


ORIGIN: The Rene Portocarrero serigraph workshop in Havana, Cuba


(Internal stock # PP-6)


A few words about collecting Cuba's silk-screen movie posters, which we also offer in our eBay Store:


For more than 60 years, the Cuban Film Institute has been designing silk-screened posters for most every movie shown on the island, whether the films originated in Cuba, the United States, Brazil, Japan or Italy. In the midst of the Cold War 1960s and 1970s, many of the subtitled foreign films shown in Cuba came from the island nation's communist allies in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Vietnam and even North Korea.


Unlike in the United States, where movie posters are often dominated by images of Hollywood stars, the Cubans assign a graphic artist to design an original piece of artwork for each film. These posters are widely recognized in graphic design circles as stylish works of art, handmade one color at a time and often under difficult circumstances (at various times, paint and even paper have been in short supply on the island.)


Cuba's silk-screen movie posters are nothing less than museum pieces. Examples of Cuban poster art can be found in the permanent collections of museums across the globe from the Victoria & Albert in London to the Museum of Modern Art in New York, as well as in prestigious institutions such as the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles.


Adding to their collectability, Cuba's movie posters are produced in relatively small numbers. Typically, a few hundred copies are made for each film, although the runs have been as low as 50. Responding to demand from collectors, the Cuban Film Institute has re-screened some of its more popular posters. That's why some posters created in the 1960s and 1970s began reappearing on the Caribbean island in the 1990s and 2000s.


Further adding to their collectability, many of Cuba's vintage posters are imperiled. Although a few hundred copies may have been screened originally, relatively few have survived, due to the island's wet and humid climate, insect infestation, inadequate storage facilities in Havana and improper handling in Cuba and elsewhere. To us, these survivors are rare beauties, even those with obvious flaws. We are proud to have rescued hundreds of posters from almost certain extinction by storing them in an air conditioned, acid-free environment.


We at the Cuban Poster Gallery offer both 1st and 2nd Edition posters to our customers on eBay and in our Washington D.C. gallery. We consider both to be collectible, and (in response to a question we often get) all of these posters were legally imported because the U.S. government exempts artwork from its economic embargo against Cuba. While the pricier originals are favored by some collectors, the 2nd Edition re-screens are also collectible because they were made in the same Havana workshop as the originals. Note that we never sell unauthorized reproductions that have been cranked out in print shops in the U.S. and Europe.


To our eBay customers, we pledge to accurately describe the posters we list and price them fairly based on condition and scarcity. Have a question? Please don't hesitate to contact us.


To view more distinctive Cuban graphics, we invite you to visit the Cuban Poster Gallery's eBay Store: http://stores.ebay.com/cubanpostergallery