In late May, Patti and I had the opportunity to travel with the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Education Center on a cultural exchange to Cuba. The theme, fitting for the museum, was “Hemingway’s Cuba,” and the tour focused on the writer’s life from 1939 to 1960, when he made Cuba home to his life and work. Of course, the sketchbook was my passport and constant companion. We spent time in Havana, Cienfuegos, and Trinidad, and traveling the countryside in between.
As
an artist and an academic, I’ve long been interested in the intersection of place and
creativity: the cities, towns,
landscapes and experiences that inspire ideas and great works. Hemingway very purposefully sought out places
conducive to his writing—Paris and Key West, among others—but he lived and
worked in Cuba longer than in any other setting. As always, sketching allowed me to more deeply see and experience these locales, and to document a personal response
to the places we encountered.
 |
| The heart of Old Havana. Hemingway knew these streets well, and was a regular for the mojitos at La Bodeguita del Medio. |
 |
| Hemingway wrote parts of many his novels from room 511 in the Hotel Ambos Mundos in Old Havana. |
 |
| Hemingway’s writing studio at his home outside Havana, Finca Vigia, was a surprise gift from his fourth wife. He preferred to write in the bedroom, where his typewriter still waits. |
 |
| A house in a central Havana neighborhood reflects its original opulence and the day-to-day realities of post-revolution life. |
From October 27-November 14, sixteen of my watercolor sketches will be on exhibition at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, near the family home of his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, whose family essential underwrote Hemingway’s career and lifestyle during his most productive years. These watercolor sketches offer my own authentic look at today’s Cuba,
where past and present intertwine, and at many of the largely unchanged
settings that fueled Hemingway’s imagination and some of his best writing.
