ALICE IN WONDERTOWN Rare Signed CUBAN Silkscreen Poster for Movie Banned in Cuba

Description: To our collector, interior designer and eBay friends worldwide: The Cuban Poster Gallery in Washington D.C. is offering a huge selection of handmade Cuban silk-screen movie posters, many of which work beautifully well together. To view all of the posters, please visit our eBay Store ( stores.ebay.com/CubanPosterGallery ) where new listings are being posted every week in both the Auction and Buy It Now/Best Offer formats. The Cuban Poster Gallery appreciates your business! This is a very special poster. Our regular price for this poster is $498 Here we are offering a rare, hand-signed and ORIGINAL Cuban silk-screen poster that was designed for Alicia en el pueblo de maravillas ("Alice In Wondertown"), an award-winning Monty Pythonesque movie that is considered the most controversial in Cuban history: it was banned by the Fidel Castro government four days after its release in Havana in 1991. See below for a description of this cult movie. The edgy silk-screen poster was made for a movie that made some pointed digs at Cuba's beleaguered political and economic system shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the island nation's No. 1 economic partner. We have been told that the egg-like characters in the poster (and movie) illustrate a joke in Cuba that eggs were one of the few dining options found in non-tourist restaurants that were open to all Cubans. The movie, directed by Daniel Diaz Torres (1948-2013), is available on DVD with English subtitles. The movie was banned in Cuba even though some prominent figures involved in Cuban cinema thought it should have been shown. This handmade 1st Edition Alice In Wondertown poster was designed by heralded Cuban artist and movie set designer Raul de la Nuez and silk-screened in the Cuban Film Institute's workshop in Havana. De la Nuez (who now lives in the United States) was also the set designer for Alice In Wondertown. RAUL DE LA NUEZ hand-signed the poster that we are offering in this listing. DE LA NUEZ's work has been displayed at exhibitions in the United States, Europe and Latin America. But he is best known as a set designer for dozens of television programs, including soap operas, in the United States and Latin America. Condition of this rare poster is fair with some imperfections (mostly wrinkles and foxing). The main images on the poster are sharp and will display well in a frame. Since we have several copies of this poster left in our stock, we have posted some file photos to give you an idea of what the poster in this listing will look like. We will send you the best copy of this poster in our stock! Buy with 100 percent confidence; posters purchased from the Cuban Poster Gallery on eBay can be returned for any reason within 30 days. We believe you will be delighted to own this piece of Cuban film and graphic arts history! Your signed, original Alice In Wondertown poster will be shipped FREE to U.S. addresses by USPS Ground Advantage or UPS (with delivery confirmation) in a sturdy tube. For international buyers (outside of the United States), eBay will calculate the cost of shipping and any required Customs duties and taxes. Synopsis of film: Inspired by Lewis Carroll's classic tale Alice in Wonderland, Daniel Díaz Torres's ALICE IN WONDERTOWN is both an absurdist comedy and an allegory with a dark political undercurrent. Alice is a drama teacher who goes on a cultural mission to a small town where the most bizarre occurrences are commonplace. Mirrors become doors, circus animals walk the streets, and it seems anything can happen -- and everyone except Alicia seems resigned to the situation. She discovers before long that the town's population is made up of officials and workers who have been fired for violating rules, minor or illusionary, and now they cannot find their way out of this strange town. One of the most controversial films in the history of Cuba, ALICE IN WONDERTOWN was banned by government authorities from Cuban theatres shortly after its release in 1991, threatening the independence that the Cuban film industry had enjoyed. Source: amazon, which is selling this cult film with English subtitles. TITLE: Alicia en el pueblo de maravillas ("Alice In Wondertown"), designed for a controversial 1991 Cuban film DESIGNER: Raul de la Nuez (b. 1955) YEAR: 1991 MEDIUM: Silk-screen / Serigraph SIGNED: Yes, by the artist's hand SIZE: 21 1/2 x 29 1/2 inches; 55 x 75 cm ORIGIN: the ICAIC (Cuban Film Institute) silk-screen workshop in Havana, Cuba A few words about collecting Cuba's silk-screen movie posters: 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, 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 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

Price: 498 USD

Location: Washington, District Of Columbia

End Time: 2024-11-07T16:50:00.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD