postersdivisionofcomm unityeducation - Smithsonian Latino Center ...

P O S T E R S
F R O M T H E
D I V I S I O N O F
C O M M U N I T Y
E D U C A T I O N
( D I V E D C O )
O F P U E R T O R I C O
1 9 4 9 - 1 9 8 9

A Poster is a Poster is a Poster
I spent the year of 1990 in Puerto Rico doing research on the politics
of culture. During my research, the Division of Community Education
(DIVEDCO) came up over and over in conversations with artists,
intellectuals and politicians. The books, posters, films, and other
documents produced by DIVEDCO from 1949 to 1989 document
and speak about the most important political period in Puerto Rico’s
history. When I started working as a curator at the National Museum
of American History in 1991, one of the first collections I was interested
in bringing to the museum was the DIVEDCO collection of posters.
I was struck not only by the interesting and sophisticated silkscreens,
woodcuts and books produced by DIVEDCO, but also by the story
of the connection between art and politics for didactic purposes. The
idea that art can be utilitarian and put to use for political purposes is
not a new one. Within the Russian and Italian neorealist movements,
the production of propaganda films and posters were a trademark
that later influenced the development of political artistic productions in
Mexico, Cuba, and other countries.
Anonymous, Democratic circle of community discussion, unknown date
Courtesy of the DIVEDCO Collection, Photography Division,
General Archive of Puerto Rico, Institute of Puerto Rican Culture
Anónimo, Círculo democrático de discusión, sin fecha
Cortesía de la Colección DIVEDCO, División de fotografía,
Archivo General de Puerto Rico, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña
Anonymous, DIVEDCO crew and local actors filming Brainless John, c. 1959
Courtesy of the DIVEDCO Collection, Photography Division,
General Archive of Puerto Rico, Institute of Puerto Rican Culture.
Anónimo, Equipo de DIVEDCO y actores locales filmando Juan sin seso, c. 1959
Cortesía de la Colección DIVEDCO, División de fotografía,
Archivo General de Puerto Rico, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña.
Puerto Rican artists and politicians were not exempt from these
influences. In interviews with some of the artists and filmmakers of
DIVEDCO, they mention how interested they were in Russian and
Italian cinema, as well as Mexican mural traditions and how much
time they spent trying to understand and absorb these aesthetics.
After the Cuban Revolution of 1959 there was a development of Cuban
graphic arts, especially poster art to praise and propagandize the new
revolutionary government. Ironically, the posters in Cuba were used
for the same purposes as the posters in Puerto Rico, but within very
different political systems. Propaganda is propaganda is propaganda.
This ephemeral art form made possible the dissemination of political
messages within the medium of graphic art, particularly silkscreen,
therefore creating a new form of political/artistic advertising.
This exhibition shows, not only the didactic, utilitarian aspect of political
and educational posters, but the development over the years of stylistic
and aesthetic peculiarities in the graphic arts of Puerto Rico. From
silkscreens to woodcuts, to linotype, lithography and other media,
Puerto Ricans have become one of the most important producers of
graphic arts in the world.
Marvette Pérez

Puerto Rican Graphic Arts
Puerto Rico has had a long tradition of poster art, however, it was not
until the mid 1940s that silkscreen posters became an important form
of artistic advertising for public health, education, and development
programs. The formation of the Cinema and Graphics Workshop of
Public Parks and Recreation (CGWPPR) in 1946, under the auspices of
then President of the Senate Luis Muñoz Marín, established a connection
between art, politics and the preoccupations with didactic endeavors.
As an arm of the government, the CGWPPR, which became DIVEDCO
in 1949, had a political and didactic agenda that constrained a purely
aesthetic production, and at the same time created a space in which
artists developed their craft.
The creative incorporation of text and image, and the innovative use
of typography and calligraphy, spearheaded by Lorenzo Homar, led
to a refinement of the social, informational, and educational poster.
Early on, many of the artists associated with DIVEDCO created the
Center of Puerto Rican Art (CAP), an artist collective that promoted
social justice. The CAP was the first of many autonomous workshops
that would sprout in the following decades of the 1960s and 1970s;
notable among these later workshops were Taller Alacrán, Taller
Quinqué, Taller El Seco, and Taller Bija.
José Melendez Contreras, Brainless John, 1972
Puerto Rico Division of Education Poster Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of
American History, Smithsonian Institution
José Melendez Contreras, Juan sin seso, 1972
Colección de carteles de la División de Educación de Puerto Rico, Centro de Archivos
Museo Nacional de Historia Americana, Institución Smithsonian.
José Meléndez Contreras,
Your Health, 1967
Puerto Rico Division of
Education Poster Collection,
Archives Center, National
Museum of American History,
Smithsonian Institution
José Meléndez Contreras,
Su salud, 1967
Colección de carteles de
la División de Educación
de Puerto Rico, Centro de
Archivos Museo Nacional de
Historia Americana, Institución
Smithsonian.
The success of the graphic arts workshop of DIVEDCO influenced
other government agencies. In 1957 Lorenzo Homar was recruited to
open the Graphics Workshop for the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture.
The University of Puerto Rico inaugurated print workshops headed by
José Antonio Torres Martinó and Carlos Marichal. DIVEDCO played
a significant role in the early years of the Puerto Rican graphic arts by
creating a niche for experimentation and training whose alumni would
go on to launched numerous workshops.
María del Mar González-González
Marvette Pérez is the curator of Latino History and Culture at the National
Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution.
María del Mar González-González is a doctoral candidate in Art History at
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is currently a Latino Studies
Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution.

Bibliography
Bibliography:
Báez, Myrna and José A. Torres Martinó, eds. Puerto Rico: Arte e Identidad.
San Juan, PR: Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico | Hermandad de Artistas
Gráficos de Puerto Rico. 1998.
Davidson, Russ, ed. Latin American Posters: Public Aesthetics and Mass Politics.
Santa Fe: Museum of New Mexico Press | University of New Mexico Center for
Regional Studies | UNM University Libraries | National Hispanic Cultural Center,
2006.
Films with a Purpose: A Puerto Rican Experiment in Social Films. (April 23-May 3, 1987).
New York: Exit Art | Museum of Modern Art, 1987.
El Cartel en Puerto Rico, 1946-1985. Río Piedras Museo de la Universidad de
Puerto Rico, 1985
La Estampa Serigráfica en Puerto Rico: Cuatro Décadas. (exh. cat.)
Rió Piedras, PR: Museo de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1987.
Marichal Lugo, Flavia. Lorenzo Homar: Abrapalabra: la letra mágica: carteles,
1951-1999. Río Piedras, P R: Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte, Universidad
de Puerto Rico, 2001.
Marsh Kennerley, Cati. “Cultural Negotiations: Puerto Rican Intellectuals in a
State-Sponsored Community Education Project, 1948–1968” Harvard Educational
Review, 73:3 (Fall 2003).
Thompson, Donald. “Film Music and Community Development in Rural Puerto Rico:
The DIVEDCO Program (1948-91)” Latin American Music Review, 26:1
(Spring/Summer 2005): 1020-114.
Tió, Teresa. El cartel de Puerto Rico. México: Pearson Educación México, 2003.
Vázquez, Oscar. “A Better Place to Live: Government agency photography and the
transformation of the Puerto Rican Jíbaro.” in Colonialist Photography:
Imag(in)ing Race and Place. Eleanor M. Hight and Sampson, Gary D. eds.
New York: Routledge, 2002.
• Bibliografía
Anonymous, DIVEDCO leader plastering posters announcing the film
Doña Julia, no date.
Courtesy of the DIVEDCO Collection, Photography Division, General Archive of
Puerto Rico, Institute of Puerto Rican Culture
Anónimo. Líder de comunidad colocando carteles anunciando
Doña Julia, sin fecha
Cortesía de la Colección DIVEDCO, División de fotografía, Archivo General de
Puerto Rico, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña.
Cover Image Credits:
“Huracán (Hurricane).” Eduardo Vera Cortés, 1965. Puerto Rico Division of Education
Poster Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian
Institution.
“20 Años de Servicio al Pueblo (20 Years of Service to the People).” Carlos Osorio,
1962. Puerto Rico Division of Education Poster Collection, Archives Center, National
Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
“Una Gota de Sangre (A Drop of Blood).” Carlos Osorio, 1963. Puerto Rico Division
of Education Poster Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History,
Smithsonian Institution.
“Fragmento (Fragment).” José Meléndez Contreras, 1971. Puerto Rico Division of
Education Poster Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History,
Smithsonian Institution.
“Doña Julia.” Juan Díaz, 1952. Puerto Rico Division of Education Poster Collection,
Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
“El de los Cabos Blancos (The White-Legged Horse).” Antonio Maldonado, 1955. Puerto
Rico Division of Education Poster Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of
American History, Smithsonian Institution.
“El Secreto (The Secret).” José Meléndez Contreras, 1958. Puerto Rico Division of
Education Poster Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History,
Smithsonian Institution.
“Serigrafías de Loíza Aldea (Silkscreens from Loíza Aldea).” Rafael Tufiño, 1960s.
Puerto Rico Division of Education Poster Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of
American History, Smithsonian Institution.
“30 Aniversario (30th Anniversary).” Eduardo Vera Cortés, 1979. Puerto Rico Division
of Education Poster Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History,
Smithsonian Institution.
“Carnaval de Puerto Rico, Juan Ponce de León (Puerto Rican Carnival, Juan Ponce de
León).” Isabel Bernal, 1983. Puerto Rico Division of Education Poster Collection, Archives
Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
SPANISH CREDITS FOR ALL ABOVE POSTERS
Colección de carteles de la División de Educación de Puerto Rico, Centro de Archivos
Museo Nacional de Historia Americana, Institución Smithsonian.
Credits:
Contributors: Melissa Carrillo, María del Mar González- González, Emily Key,
Marvette Pérez, Ranald Woodaman
Design and print by Art & Negative Graphics, Inc.
This brochure received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool,
administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center.

I spent the year of 1990 in Puerto Rico doing research on
the politics of culture. During my research, the Division of
Community Education (DIVEDCO) came up over and over
in conversations with artists, intellectuals and politicians.
The books, posters, films, and other documents produced by
DIVEDCO during 1949 to 1989 document and speak about
the most important political period in Puerto Rico’s history.
When I started working as a curator at the National Museum
of American History in 1991 one of the first collections I was interested in bringing to the museum was
the DIVEDCO collection of posters.
I was struck not only by the interesting and sophisticated silkscreens, woodcuts and books produced
by DIVEDCO; but also by the story of the connection between art and politics for didactic purposes.
The idea that art can be utilitarian and put to use for political purposes is not a new one. Within
the Russian and Italian neorealist movements, the production of propaganda films and posters were
a trademark that later influenced
the development of political artistic
productions in Mexico, Cuba, and
other countries. Puerto Rican artists
and politicians were not exempt from
these influences. In interviews with
some of the artists and filmmakers of DIVEDCO, they
mention how interested they were in Russian and Italian
cinema, as well as Mexican mural traditions and how
much time they spent trying to understand and absorb these aesthetics.
After the Cuban Revolution of 1959 there was a development of Cuban graphic arts,
especially poster art to praise and propagandize the new revolutionary government.
Ironically, the posters in Cuba were used for the same purposes as the posters in
Puerto Rico, but within very different political systems. Propaganda is propaganda
is propaganda. This ephemeral art form made possible the dissemination of political
messages within the medium of graphic art, particularly silkscreen, therefore creating
a new form of political/artistic advertising.
This exhibition shows, not only the didactic, utilitarian aspect of political and
educational posters, but the development over the years of stylistic and aesthetic
peculiarities in the graphic arts of Puerto Rico. From silkscreens to woodcuts, to
linotype, lithography and other media, Puerto Ricans have become one of the most
important producers of graphic arts in the world.
Puerto Rico ha tenido una larga tradición en el arte del cartel, sin
embargo, no fue hasta mediados de los años 1940 que los carteles
y serigrafías se convirtieron en una forma importante de publicidad
artística para programas de salud pública, educación y desarrollo.
La formación en 1946 del Taller de Gráfica y Cinema de la Comisión
de Parques y Recreo Público, bajo el auspicio del entonces Presidente
del Senado, Luis Muñoz Marín, estableció una conexión entre el arte,
la política y las preocupaciones en torno a los esfuerzos didácticos.
Como brazo del gobierno este taller, que se convertirá en DIVEDCO en
1949, tuvo una agenda política y didáctica que limitó una producción
puramente estética y al mismo tiempo creó un espacio donde los
artistas desarrollaron sus destrezas.
La incorporación creativa de texto e imagen y el uso innovador de
la tipografía y la caligrafía, iniciada por Lorenzo Homar, condujo
al refinamiento del cartel social, educativo e informativo. Desde
temprano, muchos de los artistas asociados con DIVEDCO crearon
el Centro de Arte Puertorriqueño (CAP), un colectivo de artistas que
promovían la justicia social. El CAP fue el primero de muchos de los
talleres autónomos que emergerían en las décadas subsiguientes de
los 1960 y 1970; notables entre estos talleres fueron el Taller Alacrán,
el Taller Quinqué, el Taller El Seco, y el Taller Bija.
Lorenzo Homar, The Baseball Players, 1961
Puerto Rico Division of Education Poster Collection,
Archives Center, National Museum of American
History, Smithsonian Institution
Lorenzo Homar, Los peloteros, 1961
Colección de carteles de la División de Educación
de Puerto Rico, Centro de Archivos Museo
Nacional de Historia Americana, Institución
Smithsonian.
José Meléndez Contreras, Christmas Program, 1977
Puerto Rico Division of Education Poster Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of
American History, Smithsonian Institution
José Meléndez Contreras, Programa de Navidad, 1977
Colección de carteles de la División de Educación de Puerto Rico, Centro de Archivos
Museo Nacional de Historia Americana, Institución Smithsonian.
El éxito del taller de artes gráficas de DIVEDCO, influenció otras
agencias gubernamentales. En 1957 Lorenzo Homar fue reclutado para
establecer el Taller Gráfico del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña. La
Universidad de Puerto Rico inauguró talleres de artes gráficas dirigidos
por José Antonio Torres Martinó y Carlos Marichal. De esta manera,
DIVEDCO jugó un papel significativo en los primeros años de las
artes gráficas puertorriqueñas al crear un nicho de experimentación y
entrenamiento, cuyos discípulos irían a establecer numerosos talleres.
María del Mar González-González
Marvette Pérez es curadora de historia y cultura latina en el Museo Nacional
de Historia Americana del Instituto Smithsonian.
María del Mar González- González es candidata al doctorado en Historia
del Arte en la Universidad de Illinois, Urbana-Champaign y en el presente es
becaria del programa de Estudios Latinos en el Instituto Smithsonian.
Marvette Pérez
Artes Gráficas de Puerto Rico

Un cartel es un cartel es un cartel
El año 1990 lo pasé en Puerto Rico investigando políticas de la cultura.
Durante mi investigación, la División de la Educación de la Comunidad
(DIVEDCO) surgió una y otra vez en conversaciones con
artistas, intelectuales y políticos. Los libros, carteles, películas y otros
documentos producidos por DIVEDCO entre 1949 y 1989 documentan
y nos hablan del período político más importante en la historia de
Puerto Rico. Cuando en 1991 comencé a trabajar como curadora en
el Museo Nacional de Historia Americana, una de las primeras colecciones
que me interesaba traer al museo era la colección de carteles
de DIVEDCO.
Quedé impresionada, no sólo por las interesantes y sofisticadas serigrafías,
grabados y libros producidos por DIVEDCO sino también, por
la historia que vincula al arte y a la política con pretensiones didácticas.
No es nueva la idea de que el arte pueda ser utilitario y usado
con propósitos políticos. Dentro de los movimientos neo-realistas rusos
e italianos, la producción de filmes y carteles propagandísticos fue el
sello que luego marcó el desarrollo de producciones artísticas de corte
político en México, Cuba y otros países. Los artistas y políticos puertorriqueños
no estuvieron exentos de estas influencias. En las entrevistas
con algunos de los artistas y cineastas de DIVEDCO, ellos mencionan
cuán interesados estuvieron por el cine ruso e italiano, así como también
por las tradiciones muralistas mexicanas y la cantidad de tiempo
que pasaron intentando entender y absorber estas estéticas.
José Meléndez Contreras, Chela, 1972
Puerto Rico Division of Education Poster Collection, Archives Center, National Museum
of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Colección de carteles de la División de Educación de Puerto Rico, Centro de Archivos
Museo Nacional de Historia Americana, Institución Smithsonian.
Eduardo Vera Cortés,
Ignacio, 1970
Puerto Rico Division of Education
Poster Collection, Archives
Center, National Museum of
American History, Smithsonian
Institution
Colección de carteles de la
División de Educación de Puerto
Rico, Centro de Archivos Museo
Nacional de Historia Americana,
Institución Smithsonian.
Luego de la Revolución cubana de 1959 hubo un desarrollo de las artes
gráficas cubanas, en especial del cartel artístico dedicado a alabar
y popularizar el nuevo gobierno revolucionario. De manera irónica,
los carteles en Cuba fueron usados para los mismos propósitos que
los carteles en Puerto Rico, pero al interior de sistemas políticos muy
diferentes. La propaganda es propaganda es propaganda. Este arte
efímero hizo posible la diseminación de mensajes políticos dentro del
medio de la gráfica, en particular, la serigrafía, y así creó una nueva
forma de publicidad político/artística.
Esta exhibición muestra, no sólo el aspecto didáctico, utilitario de los
carteles políticos y educativos, también el desarrollo, a pasar de los
años, de las particularidades estilísticas y estéticas de las artes gráficas
de Puerto Rico. Desde serigrafías hasta grabados, de linotipos, litografías
y otros medios, los puertorriqueños se han convertido en unos de
los más importantes productores de artes gráficas en el mundo.
Marvette Pérez

C a r t e l e s
D E L A
D i v i s i ó n d e
E d u c a c i ó n d e
L A C O M U N I D A D
( D I V E D C O )
D E P U E R T O R I C O
1 9 4 9 - 1 9 8 9