Augusto García Menocal y Córdova was born on March 13, 1899; however, the date of his death is unknown. He came from a family that had actively participated in the independence struggles of the turn of the century, including illustrious members such as his own cousin, the painter Armando García Menocal. From his earliest years as a painter, he managed to imbue his works with the island atmosphere, the cradle and center of Cuban artistic potential.

At a very young age, in 1920, he received First Prize from the National Academy of Arts and Letters in Havana. Throughout his career, he earned other awards, such as the Silver Medal of the Roosevelt Memorial Association and the Commemorative Medal of the Centenary of General Antonio Maceo. One of his most notable works is a large mural depicting the then-Colonel Fulgencio Batista, placed where the Topes de Collantes Anti-Tuberculosis Hospital would later be built.

He was a very prolific artist, and fortunately, much of his work has been preserved within the country. His work “The Landing of Columbus” was exhibited in the presidential palace, and a total of 20 portraits of Cuban national heroes were on display at the Academy of History. These portraits demonstrate his interest in historical themes and the heroes who are pillars of Cuban nationality, an interest that would endure throughout his life.

Pieces by this artist are also exhibited in the History Room of the National Museum – in particular The Torture of Hatuey, which dates back to the dawn of the American rebellion against the violence of the conquest -, in the National Museum of Fine Arts and in the Museum of the City of Havana, as well as in Topes de Collantes, where his legacy endures, as an expression of symbiosis between nature and art, of the unrestricted domain of beauty.

He conceived several pieces cited in documentary sources on art and whose titles reflect the themes that accompanied them, such as The Amazon, The Interrupted Work, The Ruins of Paula’s Hospital, I Don’t Want to Go to Heaven, and The Rescue of Sanguily by Major Ignacio Agramonte, among others. He also distinguished himself as a prose writer, thus complementing an artistic endeavor that would leave its mark on 20th-century Cuba.