The Experimental Graphic Workshop of Havana and its stones 

It's nine in the morning on any business day. Several creators work in different phases of their works, and even the director, Yamilys Brito, is committed to hers, based on fan designs. 

 

In one of the old and well-preserved German presses from the 19th century , a specialist prepares the conditions to transfer to print the drawing of the young artist Iranidis Fundora, who is making her debut in the old art of lithography. 

 

The printer deposits the stone at the base of the press, with the oily pencil drawing of one of the colors of the original work; He impregnates it with ink with a roller, carefully places the cardboard and begins to turn the rudder that causes the stone, ink and cardboard to unite under regulated pressure for a few seconds. And the magic is done. The first printed copy appears. It will take several weeks to finish the job and have the prints in all the colors. 

 

Clearly excited, Iranidis explains to a large group of first-year students of the Information Sciences career, details of the process, which are complemented by the printer. 

 

It is precisely these students, guided by their teachers, the DC. Ania Hernández and Jonathan Zayas, who have worked with the lithographic stones that, for decades, have been deposited for their protection in a dark and narrow space under the stairs that lead to the second floor of the building. 

 

With the enthusiastic support and participation of the Workshop, which opened its doors and hearts to the project, the work with the students was coordinated and advised. For a little over a month, twice a week, under the attentive and kind supervision of a specialist and protected with masks and gloves, the young people were extracting, one by one, the stones to move them to a nearby gallery, always inside the Workshop . Experimental Center of Graphics of Havana (TEGH). Subsequently, processing began, first with cleaning, which in some cases had to be done with water since several pieces were protected with adhered paper; then came the measurement, the recording of the original number, the classification according to the subject and the quality of the drawing, the possible identification, the scanning with mobile phones and, finally, the high-resolution photography. 

 

All the steps were based on a program developed at the Faculty, which allows the data obtained to be saved and identifies the student who carried out the processing. Subsequently, research papers can be developed on the topics and industries represented in the lot. 

 

Tobacco is the most frequent productive sector, followed by beverages ―from Cuban rums to Spanish wines―, chocolatiers, pharmacies, perfumeries, fruits and vegetables. It has been possible to determine that the samples date from the last years of the 19th century to the mid-20th century and belonged to the Lithographic Company of Havana, founded in 1906 from other workshops existing from previous decades, and which closed its doors in 1949. 

 

Although the first prints by this method were produced in Cuba at the end of the 18th century , made by the pioneer Francisco Javier Báez and the beautiful drawings by Antonio Parra, engraved by his son Manuel Antonio, for the Description of different pieces of Natural History, 1is in 1822 when the workshop of Santiago Lessieur y Durant was established in Havana, in Compostela corner with Amargura, ―with the printing system of Aloys Senefelder (1771-1834)―, considered the beginning of lithographic endeavors on the Island. 2 

 

In the course of a few years, new workshops were created: in 1829, that of Luis Caire, on Santa Teresa street, today Teniente Rey, number 13, in Havana; that of Juan Mata Tejada y Tapia, in 1834, in Santiago de Cuba; that of the French Francisco Miguel Cosnier and Alejandro Moreau de Jonnés, under the name of the Royal Patriotic Society, in 1839, in the same headquarters that the Caire one occupied years before; with a difference of a few months, the Spanish Lithography of the peninsular brothers Francisco and Fernando de la Costa, in Obrapía between Havana and Compostela, and that of Francisco Louis Marquier, in 1849, in Lamparilla 96, also in the capital. 3 

 

With the creation of the last three, and the presence of excellent French and Spanish artists such as Federico Mialhe, Laureano Cuevas, Fernando de la Costa himself, Louis Marquier, José Baturone and Eduardo Laplante, the most memorable series come to light . of engravings in our country: Picturesque Island of Cuba (1839-1841), Picturesque walk around the Island of Cuba (1841-1842), Picturesque trip around the island of Cuba (1848), Californian Album ( 1850), Los mills (1855-1857) and others. 

 

In the second half of the 19th century , color bursts in, and both the artistic engravings and the labels of Cuban products, led by cigars and cigarettes, reach extraordinary quality and luxury; In some cases, printing was done with 10 colors, plus bronze or gold, and muffled. But that is a topic for another article. 

 

The TEGH preserves valuable pieces by important artists, Cubans and visitors, from the stage of its foundation in 1962, in the basement of the palace of the Marqués de Arcos, in the Plaza de la Catedral, until its subsequent transfer to the current headquarters, in the nearby Callejón del Chorro. Names like Víctor Manuel, Antonia Eiriz, Manuel Mendive, among many Cubans, the Chilean Roberto Matta and the Venezuelan Oswaldo Vigas among the visitors, enrich the list. With the work done, some more could be added. 

 

In the 1960s, thousands of stones kept in the building of the old Lithographic Company , in San Nicolás y Dragones, were considered useless and almost entirely discarded. The lot in question, property of the TEGH, was transferred first to a warehouse in the palace of the Marquis of Arcos, then to an intermediate space and, finally, to the current warehouse, where it has remained untouched for decades ever since. Much could be done with a selection of the valuable stones, industrial and cultural patrimony of the nation: exhibitions, catalogues, books and, perhaps, the dreamed museum of lithography in Cuba. But the decision is up to the Workshop, which during all these years has protected and preserved such a significant legacy. 

Photo listing: 

 

1. Original state of the deposit where the lithographic stones were found in the Taller Experimental de la Gráfica. About 4,000 units were found. 

2. The students of the Information Sciences career during the extraction and transfer of the stones. 

3. The director of the TEGH, Yamilys Brito, supervises the work. 

4. The advice of the workshop specialists was essential. 

5. Some stones required washing. It was done very carefully so as not to affect the drawing. 6. The stones that required a more intense wash were those that at some point were protected with an adhered paper. 

7. The students had the guidance of their teachers Ania Hernández and Jonathan Zayas. 

8. The students, protected with masks and gloves, began processing the stones. 

9. Once clean, the stones are measured, classified by the state of the drawing, identified by themes, scanned with mobile phones and photographed. 

10. Based on the drawings, it has been possible to date the lot between the end of the 19th century and the middle of the 20th. 

11. Although tobacco is the most represented product, there are Cuban and Spanish beverages, pharmacies, perfumes and other industries. 

12. Nail cover of the tobacco boxes of the Cabañas Factory, by Hija de Cabañas and L. Carvajal, 1901-1902. It was the first established in Cuba in 1797 . 

13. Stone corresponding to the impression of one of the colors of said qualification. Note that the space was used to the maximum. 

14. The buildings of the tobacco factories were a frequent theme in the allotments of the savings banks. 

15. Corresponding stone 

 

Grades: 

1.    Emilio Cueto, The picturesque Cuba of Frédéric Mialhe , Havana, José Martí National Library of Cuba, 2010, pp. 19-34 

2.    Zoila Lapique , Memory in the stones , Havana, Ediciones Boloña, 2002, pp. 20-31. 

3.    Zoila Lapique , ibidem , pp. 99-129.