Framed Cuban Artist/Caricaturist Conrado Walter Massaguer presents
Hollywood star Adolphe Menjou in a satirical dual portrait. In the
foreground, the subject is seen in a dapper top hat, tux, fashionable
cigarette and boutonnière, and is shown as being the epitome of being
stylishly debonair. To make a larger point about this subject, Massaguer
paints a cast shadow of Menjou as a burning red devil who studies his
alter ego from above. Keeping with the artist's sarcasm, we see the good
and bad in one image. Works by Massaguer are rare and this work is in
keeping with his signature style. This work was most likely done on
assignment for Life Magazine, Cosmopolitan, The New Yorker or Vanity
Fair. Signed upper right. Inscribe lower right. Titled on verso.
Unframed, Slight bend to board; toning to board; scattered faint foxing;
pin point abrasions to margins, not affecting image. 19-1/2 x 15-1/8
inches board size.

Conrado Walter Massaguer y Diaz was a Cuban artist, political
satirist, and magazine publisher. He is considered a student of the Art
Nouveau. He was the first caricaturist in the world to broadcast his art
on television.He was first caricaturist to exhibit on Fifth Avenue. He
was the first caricaturist in the world to exhibit his caricatures on
wood. He, and his brother Oscar, were the first magazine publishers in
the world to use photolithographic printing.
Self portrait of Conrado
Walter Massaguer, depicted on a carrousel ride, with the devil over his
left shoulder and an angel over his right. (1945)

He created the magazine Social with his brother Oscar to showcase
Cuban artistic talent. The duo later created the magazine Carteles,
which became for a period the most popular magazine in Cuba, which was
purchased by Miguel Ángel Quevedo in 1953.

In his life, he met and drew caricatures of Franklin D. Roosevelt,
Walt Disney, Albert Einstein, the King of Spain, and many others.[ In
sum total, he was the author of more than 28 thousand caricatures and
drawings.Ernest Hemingway once had to refrain himself from punching
Massaguer in the face after the artist drew an unflattering caricature
of him. The dictator Gerardo Machado, however, did not punch Massaguer
for his own unflattering caricature - he had the artist deported.

He was one of the most internationally renowned Cuban artists of his
day, and his art is still regularly featured in galleries across the
Western Hemisphere and Europe.
Early life

Massaguer was born on October 18, 1889, in Cárdenas, Cuba.[In 1892, his family moved to Havana.

When the Cuban War of Independence broke out, Massaguer's family
escaped the country. From 1896 to 1908, he lived in Mérida, Mexico.
However, during this time, his parents enrolled him in the New York
Military Academy, where he stayed during school years.

In 1905, after graduating the military academy, he briefly attended
the San Fernando school in Havana, where he was tutored by Ricardo de la
Torriente and Leopoldo Romañach.

In 1906, less than a year later, he returned to the family home in Mexico.
Career as artist
Early career

While living in Yucatán, Mexico, Massaguer published his first
caricatures in local newspapers and magazines. These included La
Campana, La Arcadia, and the Diario Yucateco.

In 1908, he moved back to Havana. After returning to the island in
1908, Massaguer began mingling with Havana's aristocratic circles,
forming close friendships with some of the city's most powerful and
influential men, as well as winning the favor of many women who were
quickly charmed by him. Massaguer, largely self-taught, honed his style
using the avant-garde techniques he studied from the European and
American magazines that were widely available in Cuba at the time.
Cover
of the immensely popular Cuban magazine El Figaro, drawn by Massaguer
in 1909. This cover depicts two bumbling, incompetent American tourists
to the island.

He started drawing for El Fígaro, and was featured prominently on the cover in 1909.

After two years of refining his craft, Havana announced a poster
contest aimed at attracting North American tourists to stay in the city
during the winter months. Notable figures like Leopoldo Romañach,
Armando Menocal, Rodríguez Morey, Jaime Valls, and others also entered
the competition. The jury was particularly impressed by the modern
execution and creative solution of one piece, signed by Massaguer, who
was relatively unknown at the time.

The jury deliberations caused a great controversy.[5] The prize was
ultimately awarded to the Galician painter Mariano Miguel, who had
recently married the daughter of Nicolás Rivero, the wealthy owner of
the conservative newspaper Diario de la Marina. Although Massaguer
received only an honorable mention, the fraud scandal caused such an
uproar that his name quickly entered the public spotlight, and he became
an overnight sensation.

In 1910, he became co-owner of the advertising agency Mercurio, with
Laureano Rodríguez Castells. At Mercurio, he led the Susini cigar
campaign, and earned substantial wealth.

Massaguer has been described as a restless man, in both mind and
body.After earning enough money from his art to begin traveling, he was
almost always doing so. He constantly traveled between New York City and
Havana, Mexico and France, Europe and the Americas.

In 1911, his reputation among the Havana socialites solidified when
he organized his own first public caricature exhibit, and also the first
Caricature Salon ever held in the Americas, hosted at Athenaeum of
Havana (the Ateneo), and the Círculo de La Habana. Other exhibitors here
included Maribona, Riverón, Portell Vilá, Valer, Botet, Barsó, García
Cabrera, Carlos Fernández, Rafael Blanco, and Hamilton de Grau.
"Messaguer
Visits Broadway." Caricatures of theatrical and literary figures. Elsie
Janis, Raymond Hitchcock, S. Jay Kaufman (columnist), Ibanez, author of
The Four Horsemen, and Frances White

In 1912, in the New York American Journal, he published his first Broadway drawings.

From 1913 to 1918, he was an editor for Gráfico.
Social
Main article: Social (magazine)
Cover of the magazine Social, July 7, 1923

In 1916, he created the magazine Social with his brother, Oscar H.
Massaguer. Social's contributors included Guillén Carpentier, Chacón y
Calvo, Enrique José Varona and others.Social has been described as
Massaguer's great love in the magazine industry, and was the property
that historians say he cared the most about. Social was an innovative
magazine, being the first magazine in the world to use a modern printing
process called photolithographic printing.

Social set cultural trends, not only in the fashion of Cuba, but in
art, politics, and Cuban identity.[11] Social catered to a certain
aesthetic in Cuba - that of the sophisticated elite socialite - but
Massaguer would also use this magazine to ridicule and jibe against that
same class of society when he found their personalities worthy of his
contempt.

In Social, readers could find a variety of content, including short
stories, avant-garde poetry, art reviews, philosophical essays, and
serialized novels, as well as articles on interior design, haute
couture, and fashion. Occasionally, the magazine also featured reports
on sports such as motor racing, rowing, tennis, and horse riding.The
cultural promotion efforts of both Massaguer and Emilio Roig de
Leuchsenring are evident in the magazine. Notably, this period overlaps
with their involvement in the Minorista Group, which was then at the
forefront of the country's intellectual life.[5] Many contributors were
devoted members of the group, leading some experts to consider Social as
the cultural voice of the Minoristas.

One of the features of Social magazine was its section called "Massa
Girls," which was a play on his own name, and pronounced with a glottal
'g' in a similar fashion to the letter in Massaguer.[12] Massaguer drew
women as independent and free-thinking, and never drew the woman
celebrity as a caricature of herself, but as a free agent surrounded by
caricatures.[11] However, Massaguer himself has been described as a
womanizer in his personal life, and hesitant to fully embrace every
facet of women's liberation.

In 1916, he also established la Unión de Artes Gráficas and the advertising agency Kesevén Anuncios.[9]

The art critic Bernardo González Barroa wrote:

“Massaguer has solved the problem of working hard, living
comfortably off what his art produces and not missing any artistic,
sporting or social event. His broad, childish laugh, of a carefree
individual who carries his luck hidden in a pocket, appears everywhere
for the moment, disguising the pranks of pupils that lurk, mock and,
finally, flash with satisfaction at finding the characteristic point
after having analyzed a soul... Massaguer's personality is beginning to
solidify now. He has been the best-known and most popular caricaturist
for a long time, but his technique had not reached the security, the
mastery of values that he presents in his latest works, which is very
natural and explainable”[5]

Carteles
Main article: Carteles
Cover of the magazine Carteles, November 29, 1931

In 1919, Massaguer and his brother created the magazine Carteles.[9]
Carteles gained the widest circulation of any magazine in Latin America,
and the most popular magazine in Cuba for a time, until that title was
claimed by Revista Bohemia. Carteles remained in print until July
1960.This magazine showcased Cuban commerce, art, sports, and social
life before the revolution.

In 1924, Carteles took a more political turn, with articles
criticizing Gerardo Machado's government. it became a prime example of
the humor and graphic design employed by artists like Horacio Rodríguez
Suria and Andrés García Benítez to reflect on Cuban society and
politics.Esteemed writers such as Alejo Carpentier and Emilio Roig de
Leuchsenring also contributed to its pages. In 1953, Carteles was
purchased by Miguel Ángel Quevedo, the director of Bohemia.

In 1921, Massaguer created the Primera Exposición de Humor (the First Humor Exhibition).[9]
Cinelandia
Max Linder drawn by Conrado Walter Massaguer on the February 1921 cover of Cinelandia.

In January, 1921, Massaguer and his brother collaborated to create
yet another magazine, Cinelandia, a magazine focused on Hollywood and
cinema lifestyle.[5] Massaguer acted as Artistic Director of this
magazine, where he set the artistic tone, selected the photographs,
managed the layout, tone, and visual balance of the magazine.[5]
Cinelandia was more visually motivated, and was not focused on the
written word. This magazine heavily featured Hollywood actors and
celebrities of the day, far more than it did those celebrities of Mexico
or Argentina - even though in this era, the three different film
industries were relatively comparable in size.[5]

In April, 1921, Cinelandia quoted the Argentinian Columbia University professor, Enrique Gil:

"[Latin American] merchants have the movies as guides. They have
discovered that the demand for merchandise manufactured in the United
States is very great after an American movie has been shown in the
locality and therefore they are very interested in knowing the dates of
the exhibitions of the movies made by the main manufacturers [sic] of
the United States... I am very optimistic about the future of commercial
relations between the two Americas, because due to your disinterested
[North American] and idealistic [sic] attitude during the war, you have
in your favor a psychological predisposition and interest on the part of
the inhabitants of South America."

In 1923, Massaguer published the book Guignol, which was a collection
of his art.[9] In the introduction to Guignol, Massaguer wrote:

“Sometimes a tight shoe, a flowery buttonhole, a peculiar movement
when walking, reveals the soul of the model... The tendency of those of
us who follow the modern school of caricature is to simplify by
exaggeration”

Marriage and New York studio
Group of caricaturists drawing
portraits of Conrado Massaguer. Pictured here from left to right:
Conrado Massaguer, Alfred Frueh; Xavier Cugat; Alex Gard; Sam Berman; Al
Hirschfeld; and Abril Lamarque.

In 1924, he moved to New York with his wife, the niece of Mario
García Menocal.[9] The two spent their honeymoon at the Waldorf Astoria
New York. Massaguer then established a studio in the city.

While living in New York, he worked on the magazines;

Life
The New Yorker
Collier’s
Vanity Fair
American Magazine
Redbook
Cosmopolitan
Literary Digest
Sunday World
Town and Country

Return to Havana

In 1925, Massaguer returned to Havana, and he settled down for a while, and he did not leave Cuba for several years.

Massaguer's daughter, Conchita, was born in 1927.

In 1927, he published Sobremesa sabática, which featured Emilio Roig
de Leuchsenring, Fernando Ortiz, José Manuel Acosta, Juan José Sicre,
Jaime Valls Díaz, Rubén Martínez Villena, Juan Marinello, Jorge Mañach,
Alejo Carpentier, José Antonio Fernández de Castro, Antonio Gattorno
Águila, José Zacarías Tallet.

In 1929, Massaguer exhibited at the Paris art gallery “Jean Charpentier.” He also toured Europe.

Also in 1929, at the League of Nations in Geneva, he acted as the art editor for the King Features Syndicate.
Exile

In the late 1920s, Massaguer made the mistake of creating an
unflattering caricature of the Cuban dictator Gerardo Machado - and was
deported from the country. From 1931 to 1933, he was exiled in the
United States, and spent time writing for publications regarding the
American government's response to the Great Depression. While he was
living in exile, Machado was overthrown in the Cuban Revolution of 1933.
Massaguer resumed semi-regular travels back to Cuba, but primarily
maintained his life in New York until 1937.
Conrado Massaguer and
Agustín Acosta (left) with Errol Flynn, his wife Lili Damita, and others
in Rafael "Pappy" Valiente's Bacardi Club, which was an elite club
hidden inside of the Bacardi Building in Havana. Pappy is pictured in
the center of the frame.

He particularly enjoyed being free again to travel to Cuba in order
to legally purchase and partake in the alcoholic beverages of Havana's
clubs - whereas Prohibition in the United States ended in the same year
as the fall of Machado. While on his excursions to the nightclubs of
Cuba, especially to the Bacardi Club - hidden inside of the Bacardi
Building - he continued to mingle with Havana socialites and other
notables.

While in exile, in 1933, he illustrated the book People Worth Talking About, by Cosmo Hamilton.

He was visited regularly and interacted with the New York social
elite, and many Cuban exiles, including Pablo de la Torriente Brau and
Teresa Casuso Morín.Not only did he draw Walt Disney, it has been
written that both Disney and James Montgomery Flagg greatly admired
Massaguer, and the three cartoonists attended social occasions together.
Later life
Conrado Massaguer in Havana, 1939.

While he did return to Cuba in 1937, he still maintained his travels
to New York, and painted a large graphic mural at the Cuba Pavilion of
the 1939 New York World's Fair.However, this mural - a depiction of the
island of Cuba as a rumba dancer, and Franklin D. Roosevelt playing the
drum beat that Cuba was dancing to. This mural caused President Federico
Laredo Brú to have the exhibit immediately destroyed.The Cuban
President said that the exhibit had damaged Cuba's reputation in America
by slandering F.D.R

From 1945 to 1949, he worked as a caricaturist for the newspaper Información.

In 1952, he became the public relations director of the Cuban Institute of Tourism.

In 1959, with the conclusion of the Cuban Revolution, the government
of Fulgencio Batista was overthrown by Fidel Castro and the 26th of July
Movement. The Castro regime offered him "opportunities" to draw the
heroes of the Revolution.[8] One of Massaguer's most famous works from
this period is one of Camilo Cienfuegos, Che Guevara, and Fidel Castro
and a dove perched on one of their shoulders.

In 1962, complaining that his hands were tired and shaking, Massaguer
retired from art. He donated 20 albums of his work to the National
Archives of Cuba.

In 1965, Massaguer published his autobiography.

Massaguer died on October 18, 1965, in Havana.
Second life of artworks
Cuba

In 1989, on the Centenary of his birth, the Cuban Museo Nacional de
Bellas Artes featured an exhibition on Massaguer, and brought the artist
to life once again in the communist country.

In 1998, the University of Havana created the "Conrado Massaguer
Chair of Graphic Arts," and holds regular exhibitions of his works.

His works have also been featured at the Palacio de los Capitanes
Generales, the City Museum of Havana, and the Cárdenas Art Gallery.
United States

The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum maintains
stewardship of certain historical works of Massaguer that caricatured
the President in an unflattering manner during the Great Depression.

For some time, the historian Vicki Gold Levi maintained the largest
private collection of Massaguer's works in the United States, until
2019, when she donated dozens of Massaguer's artworks to the Wolfsonian
art museum at Florida International University.

That summer, the Wolfsonian featured several Massaguer's work in several collections;

Cover Girls
Caricaturas

Several of his original works have since been successfully auctioned on the art market.

In 2022, Massaguer's work was showcased by the Cuban Cultural Center of New York.