Alberto Blanco Gonzalez 1955-2023
Alberto Blanco, one of Cuba’s respected graphic artists, passed away June 10, 2023 after fighting cancer for many years.
He was born in Havana, June 5, 1955 and lived with his parents and sister in the Santos Suarez neighborhood. After military service (1972-75), Alberto attended an industrial design school (1976-79) then worked at OSPAAAL (the Organization in Solidarity with the Peoples of Asia, Africa, and Latin America) from 1979 to 1991 where he created 20 posters (and the backside of a 21st). He also designed covers of the bimonthly Tricontinental magazine, assigned on a rotating basis among the design staff.
OSPAAAL, founded at the 1966 Tricontinental Conference, was one of the most effective efforts to coordinate post-World War II national liberation movements. It was a non-governmental organization based in Havana with an international board which published Tricontinental in English, Spanish, and French. Inside many of those magazines, mailed all over the world, were political posters. OSPAAAL realized that instead of being carefully rolled up and shipped at considerable expense, they could just be folded and inserted into bulk-mailed magazines. This experiment proved to be the most effective poster dissemination system yet conceived. Between 1966 and 1990, Tricontinental’s circulation peaked in 1989 at 30,000 copies and reached 87 countries. OSPAAAL closed its doors in June 2019.
Alberto married Marla Hoffman in 1982. They and their son Maurice lived in Havana until 1991, when they moved to New York. They divorced in 2020. Alberto worked for several years as Art Director at Telemundo Channel 47 and helped launch the White Camel design business in 2006.
He is survived by his former wife, his son, his sister Omara, his niece Ivette, and several cousins.
The memorial website designed by his son can be seen here:
www.albertoblancogonzalez.com
Compañero Blanco, Presente!
Alberto at his OSPAAAL desk, Havana, Cuba, 1989 (photo by Lincoln Cushing)
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| "For a Vietnam ten times more beautiful" 1980 | Tricontinental cover, Jan/Feb 1990 |
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| "International solidarity with the Lebanese people's struggle" 1982 | “Apartheid - No” 1982 |
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| "Nelson Mandela / symbol of the anti-apartheid struggle" 1986 | “[Sandino] Presente” [Nicaragua] 1991 |
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page last updated 9/6/2023