When you enter the University of Miami Library’s Cuban Heritage Collection (CHC), you are met by a colorful mural—a colonial-styled balcony encased by stained glasswork and adorned with intricate ironwork—that opens onto a colorful courtyard.
The mural—depicting a house in Old Havana, Cuba, is called “Espejo de Paciencia,” or Mirror of Patience—invites you to sit and relax. It is the work of famed artist Humberto Calzada.
Calzada, a University of Miami alumnus, died on Aug. 17 in Miami. He was 81 years old.
His works have been shown and recognized nationally and internationally. His paintings hang in many museums including the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo María Zambrano, Vélez-Málaga, Spain.
Jill Deupi, executive director of the University’s Lowe Art Museum, said Calzada’s work “fully embodies the spirit of Old Havana, deconstructed and reconstructed into compelling vignettes whose abstracted vistas aptly capture the city's light, its architecture, and its transcendent beauty. Humberto was an exceptionally kind and generous man who will be missed by many, including his friends at the Lowe.”
In 2006 the Lowe Art Museum organized a retrospective, “Humberto Calzada: In Dreams Awake. A Thirty-Year Retrospective.” Comprising more than 50 works, the event was a well-deserved tribute to the Cuban artist. The museum holds five Calzada paintings in its permanent collection.
Calzada came to Miami in 1960 with his parents, escaping the Castro regime. In 1966 he graduated from the University with a degree in engineering. He received an M.B.A. in finance in 1968.
His artwork surfaced in the late 1970s, along with other Cuban artists, who became known as the “Miami Generation.”
Although his work went through several phases, most of his oeuvre was characterized by architectural, colorful renderings of traditional Cuban spaces that provoked nostalgia for a bygone era. Art critics point out that his commitment to his homeland is evident in the presence and recreation of Cuban architecture, as well as his knowledge of what Cubans on the island were going through.
This interest drove him to produce works like “Ensayo para un paladar,” which alluded to life in the island, reflecting one of the sites that became symbols of survival in the 1990s—the famous home-based restaurants known as “paladares.”
What many of his friends and acquaintances remember most about Calzada was his warmth, charisma, and his love of Cuba. He and his wife, Carmen, often opened their home to friends and recently arrived Cubans.
“Humberto was a true family man, a warm and caring friend, and a passionate artist,” said Sonia Chao, associate dean of research at the School of Architecture. “He took great pride in his Cuban roots and loved sharing his culture with those around him.”
Chao was drawn to Calzada’s work “due to its emphasis on architectural motifs, complemented by his deliberate engagement with the concept of “cubanidad,” evidenced through his strategic use of color palettes and meticulous painterly detailing. His compositions exhibit a precise structural organization reflecting his engineering background, while concurrently conveying a profound connection to his homeland through thematic and aesthetic elements.”
Cuba was never far from Calzada’s heart and mind.
“He would host ‘tertulias’ (gatherings) for his friends and newly arrived Cubans,” said Gladys Gomez-Rossie, community relations coordinator at the Cuban Heritage Collection. “He would then bring them to the CHC to see the vast holdings housed at the University.”
Calzada is survived by his daughter, Carolina Calzada, a lecturer in the School of Architecture, who received a master’s in architecture from the University in 2005; his son-in-law, Matthew Trussoni, an assistant professor of professional practice at the College of Engineering; his son, Nicolás Calzada; his daughter-in-law, Veronica Granata; and four grandchildren.
His daughter said: “My dad was a lot of different things to many different people. An artist, painter, lover of all things Cuban. He was also a great friend to people of all ages. But that was his public persona. In private, my dad was a humble, charming, and loving man—an amazing father and grandfather who, I guess above everything else, loved his family.
“He gave us the world and stressed the importance of education. He was a proud UM alum and was very happy I was teaching at the School of Architecture. Ultimately, being his daughter is one of the greatest privileges of my life.”
A funeral mass will be held for Calzada at St. Augustine Church, 1400 Miller Drive, Coral Gables on Aug. 25 at 1:30 p.m.