Jaime Valls (Cuban 1883-1955)

We are grateful to the Fundación Arte Cubano for its assistance in cataloguing this work.

Renowned for his graphic oeuvre which included illustrations (both satirical in nature and for commercial products) for numerous publications such as El Chato Cómico (1905) and Ataja! (1908-1909), Jaime Valls, celebrated popular Cuban culture, especially Afro-Cuban themes, in a thoroughly modern fashion. Art Historian Ramón Vázquez credits him as an innovator and a leading force in the vanguardia criolla. The sensual figures in Rumba or Ritmo de rumba, pulsate with the rhythms of the rumba cubana as they sway to the beat of every musical note being played.