Page 335 - Arte e Historia

Art and History

at the Banco popular dominicano visual arts collection

future painters. A decade prior to those years, the cin-
ematographic invention of the Lumière brothers had a
notable native follower: Arturo Francisco Palau, who had
filmed the short documentary «The Pilgrimage of Virgin
Altagracia» (1921), and the feature film «The Ambush of
Cupid» starring Delia Weber, Pedro Troncoso Sánchez,
Paino Pichardo, among others. The filmmaker Palau had
published a prestigious magazine, «Black and White,»
which circulated between 1908 and 1930, among other
modernist publications.

During these years, graphic design and artistic cari-
cature were represented by exponents like Copito Men-
doza and Bienvenido Gimbernard. The latter was asso-
ciated with the printed advertisement of mass media.
In the 1920s, agricultural fairs and cultural events have
been held, but none like the National Exhibition in the
city of Santiago in 1927; organized by the Chamber of
Commerce, including samples of agriculture, industry,
livestock and art. It had an inter-Antilles flair, and the
art exhibition showcased the work of young painters like
Federico Izquierdo and Octavio A. Morel (Yoryi). The
National Exhibition took place in a large architectural
scene and opened in the presence of President Vásquez,
who showed interest in continuing to rule at the end of
his term in 1928. Vásquez was old and sick when reelect-
ed. His reelection provoked a national crisis and political
opposition that coincided with the Great Depression of
1929, which affected the finances and the global mar-
ket. At this juncture of capitalist and political crisis, the
Dominican opposition concocts the Santiago civic move-
ment, which turned into an armed revolution against the
gubernatorial seat of the capital of the country causing
the overthrow of Horacio Vásquez.

The civic revolution led by Rafael Estrella Ureña,
produced no bloodshed, however it uncovered a conspir-
acy that included General Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, cun-
ning military man who won the 1930 election process.
The General establishes an authoritarian government,
eliminating all opposition with the support of the army

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