Art and Architecture at the Lyceum, 1929–1968

A lecture by & conversation with Victor Deupi, Ph.D., UM School of Architecture.

About the lecture
The Lyceum and Lawn Tennis Club, on Calzada and 8th Street in the Vedado, was founded by a group of progressive Cuban women to promote cultural and social interests through education, public service, art, and music. Modeled on similar Spanish women's social clubs, the Lyceum encouraged discussions on modern art and architecture in Cuba, their own headquarters being designed by one of Cuba’s leading women architects, Lillian Mederos. In addition to their monthly journal, Revista Lyceum, the organization founded the country's first free public library and hosted exhibitions, public lectures, and creative competitions, usually in the form of their annual flower show. From 1929 when it first opened until 1968 when Fidel Castro closed it down, the Lyceum was at the forefront of Cuba’s cultural and intellectual institutions.

About the Speaker
Victor Deupi is a lecturer at the University of Miami School of Architecture where he teaches history and theory, design, and representation. The principal focus of his research is on the art and architecture of the Early Modern Ibero-American world, and mid-20th-century Cuba. His books include Architectural Temperance: Spain and Rome, 1700–1759 (Routledge, 2015); Transformations in Classical Architecture: New Directions in Research and Practice (Oscar Riera Ojeda Publishers, 2018); Cuban Modernism: Mid-Century Architecture 1940–1970, with Jean-Francois Lejeune (Birkhäuser Verlag, 2020); The Modern Stable and The Modern Winery, both with Oscar Riera Ojeda (Rizzoli, 2020); and Emilio Sanchez in New York and Latin America (Routledge, 2020). Dr. Deupi was also the President of the CINTAS Foundation dedicated to promoting Cuban art and culture from 2016–2018.