Eladio Rivadulla Martinez (May 20, 1923 – March 28, 2011). Cuban artist, screenprinter, writer, and journalist. Recognized as an innovator and teacher since 1943 of integral production: design and artistic serigraphy of film posters in Cuba. Eladio was a Cuban visual artist, professor, and leading figure in Cuba’s visual art movement, especially “pop art.” Rivadulla became a member of the International Screen Process Printing Association in 1957.

Rivadulla initiated screenprinting in Cuba when he imported equipment and ink to open his first studio, Rivadulla Progandas, in 1940. In 1943, after three years of self-education in screenprinting, he contacted Latin American film distributors about printing posters for the movies. They admired the work and commissioned him immediately.

His process included the overlaying of transparent colors to produce prints that appeared to have more colors. To keep the cost of production low, he would often print only three colors; medium blue, red, and yellow. Instead of printing green, Rivadulla overlayed transparent yellow over the blue to produce green. The orange was produced by overlaying yellow over the medium blue. What appeared black in the final print is a combination of medium blue, red, and yellow.

Awards and Honors

ONDI National Design Award, 2009. Granted full recognition by the Cuban State in design and culture professional work of a lifetime.

Honored for the work of a lifetime as initiator and master of the Cuban film poster, November 2008.

Recognized as a personality of Cuban culture, 2004

Distinction granted by the Mayor of Quito for his talent and creativity, Ecuador, 2004

Tribute Quito T. Showcase III Independent Film Showcase, 2004

270th Anniversary Medal of the Foundation of the University of Havana. Due to his creative initiative and the sustained work for more than fifty years dedicated with love and talent to graphics, 2001

National Award for Book Design, First Edition, ICL Ministry of Culture, 1998.

Space Award for the Work of Life, Association of Propagandists and Advertisers, 1999.

First Artist Featured by: Grafik Archive International Poster Gallery, USA, 1997

Distinction for National Culture, Council of State, 1993.

Felix Elmuza Distinction, the highest award granted by UPEC and the Council of State as Outstanding Journalist, 1986

Juan Gualberto Gómez Distinction for an outstanding career as a journalist, UPEC, 1995.

Decoration of the Museum of Czech Literature, for his outstanding career as an illustrator and book designer, 1979.

José Martí Award, as an outstanding journalist, UPEC, 1986.

Raúl Gómez García Distinction, Council of State, 1982.

Order and medal Alfredo López, 25 years in the Press and the Book, 1975

Commemorative Distinction, 25 years at UPEC, as founder, 1988.

Recognition of the FCBC, as a Pioneer of Artistic Screen Printing in Cuba, 1992.

Recognition of the CTC for 30 years in culture and art, 1979.

Recognitions from the CTC for more than 25 years as a union leader and labor judge.

First Prizes in drawing and painting contests. Círculo de Bellas Artes, and design of the book, posters and magazines, granted by Salons of July 26, DOR, UPEC, IBA, (Czechoslovakia), 1940s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Recognition of the ICL as founder, 1998.

Recognition (plaque) as a founder of the Havana Graphics Workshop, 1987.
Recognition of the DOR of the CC, for the valuable contribution to the development of the magazine Propaganda, 1983.

Recognition from UNEAC, for the contribution to the development of book design in the Revolution, 1982.

Acknowledgments from the Ministry of Culture, as Founder and Cultural trajectory, 1973.1987, 1992.

The film poster of “Tarzan” (1943) was recognized in the US as a precedent of “pop art” and postmodernism.

Poster of FIDEL CASTRO, July 26, made on January 1, 1959, at 2 a.m., recognized by its conception and date as the initiator of the graphics of the Cuban Revolution, has presided over various events and has been published from 1959 to 2009 in different countries and continents.

Death

Eladio Rivadulla Martínez died on March 28, 2011, at 87, in Havana.