Lesbia Vent Dumois, master of woodcuts

Xylography is the technique of carving images on a wooden plank, emptying out the parts that must remain blank in the subsequent printing. But technique is not art. Lesbia Vent Dumois is a xylography artist, a woodcut artist actually. She treasures an impressive collection, pieces that have become significant references to a Cuban school that has boasted and still boasts creators of great value.

Galería Habana will host the exhibition Son de la gubia y el talco, until October 20th, which gathers woodcuts dated between 1954 and 2023, almost seventy years of work. It is very easy to say, but it actually implies a creative journey of quests and vicissitude. And personal milestones, accomplishments that become the pillars of the tradition of woodcut in Cuba.

Seven decades, but a perfectly established style, from the first works. The author's own style is strong, distinguishable. From her youth, Lesbia catched the attention of teachers, critics and specialists, who distinguished her poetics.

That lyrical body opens up into a rich thematic range. There are popular scenes and characters, intimate evocations, dramatic situations, approaches to the country's history and its personalities, recreations of the nation's religious heritage... The Lesbia Vent Dumois exhibition is a wonderful album of traditions and dreams. And here and there, among fruits, lace, flowers and stylized calligraphy, nestles the spirit of a people rooted in their identity.

Lesbia is, by vocation and practice, a master. And in this retrospective exhibition, she offers a lesson about the uniqueness of her technique and art. On a wall, core concepts about woodcut are explained so the public, who may not be very familiar with this art, leaves with an idea of the secrets and mysteries of that art expression.

Lesbia Vent Dumois, in fact, reveals with this set of pieces the keys to a sensitivity, closely linked to the fascination for details, which of course, has repercussions on the larger framework. From filigree to myth. That's the journey. And in one of the sections of the exhibition, as a tribute to the thriving craftsmanship of engraving, the blocks, the wood where she fixed the grooves that created these highly suggestive figurations.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff