Dulce María Loynaz: A Lady and Her Fans

The National Museum of Fine Arts of Cuba recently received a donation of 22 titles, including catalogs and books on Cuban and international art, from specialist Moraima Clavijo, president of the Cuban National Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM).

As part of trials for the new Library Management System developed by CODES, currently being implemented at the Antonio Rodríguez Morey Information Center, the museum has incorporated Dulce María Loynaz: Una dama y sus abanicos—an exquisite volume born from a collaboration between the Polymita imprint and Cuba’s National Museum of Decorative Arts.

The book showcases over 100 pieces from Dulce María Loynaz’s collections, primarily preserved at institutions such as the Palacio de Lombillo, the Dulce María Loynaz Cultural Center, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Santa Clara, and the Palacio de Junco Provincial Museum in Matanzas. These artifacts, meticulously documented with scholarly rigor, adorn the book’s pages, highlighting the diversity of styles, materials, and craftsmanship techniques.

The volume features selections from the famed author of Jardín’s smaller collections, most notably her most significant and comprehensive assemblage: fans. With texts by María Rosa Oyarzábal Gutiérrez, the book presents a thorough investigation into the unique nature of this collection, which Loynaz herself described as born from a blend of “chance and deliberate intent.” As such, the publication stands as an essential reference for those studying the collections of this towering figure in Cuban literature.

Fans were among her greatest treasures—a trove of roughly 350 surviving pieces. At the 1958 inauguration of one of her exhibitions at Havana’s Palace of Fine Arts, the writer reflected: “Something so intimately mine and cherished, like my fans, owes [their existence] in part to the women of my family who began this collection, and to me, who lovingly continued it from almost childhood.”

Source: National Museum of Fine Arts of Cuba

Translated by Luis E. Amador Dominguez