ABSTRACT

Since 1959, Cuban artists have produced an extensive and distinguished body of poster art, while the international success of Cuban athletes has likewise been lauded. Although poster production is primarily focused on themes related to domestic sovereignty and anti-imperial struggles, sport and health-related subjects also figure prominently in the larger Cuban visual tradition. By incorporating methodologies drawn from art history and visual studies, particularly using approaches illustrated in the writings of Roland Barthes, Susan Sontag, Aldolfo Sánchez Vásquez and Guy Debord, this article highlights the manner that understanding the ‘visual turn in sport’ initiates historical ways of knowing that are different from other ways of understanding sport history. By analysing photographs of Fidel Castro and other barbudos (bearded revolutionaries) engaged in sport, as well as sport-themed posters, the author begins to uncover how art history and visual studies may aid in creatively understanding sport history and its role in larger political spheres.