Manuel Couceiro Prado (Havana, 1923-1981): His painting was mainly dedicated to representing Cuban themes. From the beginning of his artistic work Couceiro reflected one of the conceptual sectors of our culture. It unfolded in tandem with his intense career, marked by cultural activism from his time in the Federation of University Students (FEU) in which he worked actively to organize the University Art Festivals. In his political activities he worked in exile in the United States to promote revolutionary ideology. He returned to Cuba with the triumph of the Revolution in 1959 and turned his energy to leadership in political and mass organizations.
During his stay in New York he did easel painting and murals on vernacular subjects. It is interesting to quote the curator and cultural promoter Enrique Silva Díaz, who wrote about his friend, artist, and comrade in political struggles, in the catalog of the one-person show, “Manuel Couceiro,” an exhibition in his honor by Grupo Antillano: “I will never forget that first of January in New York, when we learned of Batista’s escape. On that day the owner of the ‘Liborio’ paid you for the painting and the mural you had done for him in the bar on the theme of the Cabildo. You had used luminous paints that at night stood out almost like stained glass. (...) Regarding your work, so Cuban for what is says and for its sensuality, it is better to let it speak for itself.”
In the 1970s Couceiro was a member of the Executive Commit- tee of the Association of Fine Arts of the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC), when the graphic designer Félix Beltrán was president of the Association.
Guillermina Ramos Cruz, 2012
