Jilma Madera

Who was Jilma Madera?

Jilma Madera was a well-known Cuban sculptor. Her two most famous works are the Christ of Havana and the bust of José Martí at the Pico Turquino.

She studied painting and sculpture at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes "San Alejandro" under the tutelage of Juan José Sicre.

Her statue of the Christ of Havana was a commission she won in 1953 during the government of Fulgencio Batista. It was done in Carrara marble and is 60 feet tall and weighs 320 tons. It is composed of 67 pieces that were brought from Italy, where Madera carved the statue and was blessed there by Pope Pius XII. It was inaugurated on December 24, 1958, just two weeks before the fall of the government of Fulgencio Batista.

She worked and made some exhibitions at New York's Sculpture Center, in USA, and exhibited other works at the City of Havana Local Council, the Lyceum and Lawn Tennis Club, and some painting and sculpture national exhibition halls, in Cuba.

Her bust of José Martí was done in 1953 and placed at the Pico Turquino during the centennial celebrations of Martí's birth in 1963 by Celia Sanchez.