Oscar Benjamin Cintas y Rodriguez, (31 Mar 1887 in Sagua la Grande, Cuba – 11 May 1957 in New York City, N.Y.) 

Oscar B. Cintas was a prominent sugar and railroad magnate who served as Cuba’s ambassador to the United States from 1932 until 1934. He was educated in London and became director of the Cuban Railroad Company’s sugar mills in Punta Alegre, Jatibonico and Jobabo. He was president of Railroad Equipment of Brazil and Argentina, director of the American Car and Foundry and the American Locomotive Sales Corporation, and had business interests in Europe.

As a patron of the arts and with the advice of the legendary Alfred H. Barr Jr., Mr. Cintas assembled a collection of Old Masters and modern paintings that was once considered among the best in Latin America. In 1940, he lent one of the pieces from the collection, Rembrandt’s Portrait of a Rabbi on a Wide Cap, to the Masterpieces of Art exhibition at the New York World’s Fair. Mr. Cintas also collected manuscripts, and his acquisitions included the sole first edition of Cervantes’ Don Quijote, and the fifth and final manuscript of Lincoln’s 1863 Gettysburg Address, once owned by the family of Col. Alexander Bliss, and known as the Bliss copy. Mr. Cintas’ purchase of the manuscript, for $54,000 in 1949, set a record at the time for the sale of a document at a public auction. Since Mr. Cintas’ death in 1957, the manuscript has been in the White House collection. (There, the document is displayed in the Lincoln Bedroom, a room not open for public tours. However, between Nov. 21, 2008 and Jan. 4, 2009, the manuscript was on view at the documents gallery of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.)

Before his death, Mr. Cintas entrusted the administration of his estate, including his art collection, to the Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A., with Ethan Alyea serving as legal counsel. With the help and encouragement of David Rockefeller, Mr. Alyea named a blue ribbon board of trustees to carry out Mr. Cintas’ wishes for a foundation. Early members of the board included Theodore Rousseau, curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Porter A. McCray, director of the International Program at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, and A. Hyatt Mayor, curator of prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The foundation’s original name, the Cuban Art Foundation, was changed in 1962 to honor its founder.

Foundation funded from auction proceeds of 24 paintings at Parke-Bernet Galleries, NYC. 

Foundation contracts with Institute of International Education (IIE) to administer fellowships; sample work donation from fellows requested for historical and archival purposes; some hung on IIE offices, the rest were stored in a Brooklyn warehouse.

Francis E. Grimes - President 

Original fellowships granted in 3 disciplines, Visual Arts, Music Composition, Architecture, Joaquin Diago, Daniel Serra Badue (pictured left), Laureano Garcia, Julian Orbon de Soto, Jose Mejer.

Francis E. Grimes - President 1963-1967

CINTAS Foundation adds a new fellowship in Creative Writing.

Cervantes Collection of 171 titles sold in 1965-1966 to the Cervantes holdings in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library of Ohio State University.

Ethan D. Alyea, Esq.

The lawyer and friend of Oscar Cintas, who recommended that Cintas start a foundation, and who subsequently became its president, was Ethan D. Alyea. Mr. Alyea was also vice president and trustee of the Montclair Art Museum from 1953-1967.

First exhibition of works by CINTAS Fellows at the Miami Dade Public Library (MDPL). Curator: Margarita Cano. Image left by Eloisa Castellanos.

Media Arts added to the Visual Arts category. Image left by César Trasobares.

MONTCLAIR AT 2 P.M. today, the Montclair Art Museum will officially be back in business, and the prince who aroused the beauty, asleep since last May, is the Cintas Foundation. (The New York Times). Image left by Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes.

First Cubans to serve on CINTAS Board (Warren Cuban-descended, Cano and Sampedro Cuban-born), others gradually recruited to bring expertise in the disciplines.

Art Committee Members Margarita Cano and Hortensia Sampedro take inventory of fellows' donations in old Brooklyn warehouse; certain quality works spur idea of exhibiting fellows. Conversations lead to creating the CINTAS Fellows Collection from the original works and systematically growing the collection from subsequent annual winners, including representations from visual art, music , architectural drawings, sample writings. Blind juries reinforced. Image left by Grace Gilbert Dollav.

William B. Warren, Esq.

Mr. Warren was vice president of the Academy of American Poets, and serves on a number of charitable and educational boards including St. John’s College of Annapolis and Santa Fe; the John Carter Brown Library, Providence, RI; Foundation for Cultural Review, publisher of The New Criterion; and The Hudson Review. He was also Chairman of Institute for Schools of the Future in New York City; Chairman Emeritus of The Oscar B. Cintas Foundation, Trustee of the Alice E. and Arthur F. Adams Foundation of Miami, and Trustee of the Hodson Trust of Baltimore, MD.

100th Anniversary of Oscar B. Cintas birth.

Second exhibition of CINTAS Foundation fellows' work: CINTAS Fellows Revisited, at MDPL. Curator: Margarita Cano. Image left by Aramis O'Reilly.

Board asserts principle that Old Masters are not to travel internationally but makes decision to relocate Old Masters from Cummer Art Gallery in Jacksonville (Florida) to the Lowe Art Gallery, University of Miami,(Coral Gables, Florida);  Ira Licht, Director and Curator. Gala at the Colonnade Hotel Opening. October 1, 1988. Mrs. Julian Vinas chairs gala Committee.

Lifetime Achievement Awards created - (Lydia Cabrera & Enrique Riveron first recipients).

Gala at the Colonnade Hotel, opening October 1, 1988. Mrs. Julian Vinas chairs gala Committee. Image left Lydia Cabrera.

Board expanded to include additional representation in all categories and in publicity. Ileana Oroza and Manuel Gonzalez join the Foundation board of directors.

Manuel Gonzalez leads efforts to exhibit finalists annually at various venues generously offered by Craig Robbins, Ella Cisneros, and others. Includes Art Basel, Wynwood, galleries and art fairs. Annual exhibition of fellows incorporated into annual announcements to further promote fellows. Image left by Mario Algaze.

Decision to increase amount of fellowship grants and juror honoraria to keep with inflation. Categories vary annually with available funding. Image left by Eduardo Conde.

Hortensia Sampedro, Treasurer, moves to Miami with the Chase Manhattan Bank; is asked to stay with CINTAS. Foundation decides to alternate meetings between New York and Miami.

Installations added to the Visual Arts category. Image left by Tatiana Garmendía.

CINTAS Foundation Fellowships awarded yearly to artists of Cuban lineage and selected by independent juries composed of academics, curators and other professionals, including past fellows. The Fellowships support the broad spectrum of creativity in the visual arts, creative writing, music composition and architecture & design.

Foundation makes strategic decision to move CINTAS Fellows Collection to FIU Art Museum, promoted by Dahlia Morgan, Director.

Annual Finalists exhibitions to further support the fellows' work.

Board brings administration of fellowships inhouse, managing the jury selection process, and fellows gifts to the Foundation. Image left by Juan Abreu

Foundation learns that Cuban government is illegally selling its Cuban paintings in Europe and sues Sotheby's in British courts over stolen art sold by the Cuban government; case lost on a technicality but helped to stem the torrent of outflow of stolen Cuban art for sale in Europe.

Traveling exhibition, Outside Cuba, joint project Rutgers, State University of New Jersey (SUNJ), Research Institute for Cuban Studies University of Miami.

Hortensia E. Sampedro

Tapped by then Chairman of the Board of the Chase Manhattan Bank David Rockefeller, Hortensia began her service to the Foundation as assistant treasurer, was elected as a director, then member, and served on the Visual Arts Committee and as treasurer of CINTAS. Hortensia was eventually elected as the CINTAS Foundation's fourth president in 2004.

Over her span of service the Foundation was the sole organization granting fellowships for Cuban arts and the humanities outside Cuba. In the early 1980s, the strategic decision was made to evolve the Foundation as a collecting entity as well as the premiere fellowship granting entity. This was followed by the decision to bring the fledgling collection out of storage and partner with a major institution of higher learning to regularly exhibit the works of the Fellows. Subsequently, a strong program of bi-annual exhibitions was developed around the CINTAS Fellows. In 1988 a program to recognize Lifetime Achievements of living Cubans was inaugurated, honoring internationally recognized Cubans in the arts and the humanities who are credited with changing their world and inspiring others to do the same.

A strategic decision made to supplement funding by raising name endowments to fund awards directly in perpetuity. Emilio Sanchez Fellowship Award for Visual Arts was the first. The award was funded by the Emilio Sanchez Foundation for the benefit of the winner of the CINTAS Fellowship in Visual Arts.

The Brandon Fradd Fellowship in Music Composition was endowed by Brandon Fradd, managing director of Apollo Medical Partners, for the benefit of the winner of the music composition award. With this generous donation, Mr. Fradd made it possible for the Foundation to give an annual fellowship in music composition and thus support the rich heritage of Cuban music for the enjoyment of all.

Strategic development of Marketing and Communications to support fellows and the fellowhsip program. Website initiative launched. Roberto de Alba creates a major website from scratch; Ileana Oroza researches and develops new content. Major impact in communications and in archiving of information, Fellows Collection, etc. "Cintas" changed to "CINTAS" to differentiate from Cintas Uniform Company and to add artistic messaging. Mission and vision statements codified when website is completed and published.

Abelardo Morell Traveling Exhibition, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina. Curator: Elizabeth Cerejido.

A Room of One's Own. Curator: Elizabeth Cerejido.

Lifetime Service Award (first recipient Margarita Cano).

William B. Warren Lifetime Achievement Award for Music Composition.

Sonidos Cubanos is a CD album featuring the works of 4 CINTAS Foundation award winning composers performed by the NODUS Ensemble and released on the Innova record label in 2010 with the support of the Foundation. The album includes music by Tania Leon, Ileana Perez Velazquez, Sergio Barroso, and Orlando Jacinto Garcia. The works by Leon and Garcia received nominations in the best contemporary classical composition category of the 2010 Latin Grammys. 

Change in FIU Museum Director prompts change in institutional home for the CINTAS Fellows Collection. MDC President Eduardo Padron and MOA+D Executive Director and Chief Curator Jeremy Mikolajczak invite Foundation  to move Fellows Collection to MDC- MOA+D, Freedom Tower, continue annual exhibitions of CINTAS finalists, promote fellows and grow collection.

Foundation retains New York as legal home but moves Board meetings and administration to Miami, Florida. Decision to move fulcrum point to Miami given its artistic vitaliy in the contemporary art world with Art Basel and other events. 

Annual Exhibitions at Miami Dade College (Freedom Tower) - Dr. Eduardo Padron - MDC, Jeremy Mikolajczak  - MOA+D

A Poetic Reality: Magical Realism of the CINTAS Fellows Collection.

Featuring artworks by 10 artists, including José Mijares and Ernesto de la Vega Pujol, and compositions by CINTAS music composition fellows Tania Leon and Orlando Jacinto Garcia, the exhibition explores the theoretical structure of Magical Realism; a mid-20th century Latin American literary movement. Curated by the MDC Museum of Art + Design Curatorial Intern – Natalie Fulgencio Perez, the exhibition explores concepts of race, religion and culture through the use of fantastical elements in everyday situations. The exhibition and artists selected are not concerned with taking a political or social position but, through the arrangement of forms; redefine the ordinary with extraordinary creating elements that allow a variety of arguments to surface.

Impact and Legacy: 50 Years of the CINTAS Foundation. MOA+D Executive Director and Chief Curator Jeremy Mikolajczak.

Multi-year effort for the 50th Anniversary gives impetus to increase gifts from Fellows for the CINTAS Fellows Collection exhibition. Most Fellows contacted in all disciplines. Broad publicity  garnered for all Fellows. Over 300 CINTAS fellows have their works represented in the collection.

Board Manual written to codify vision, mission, philosophy, practices and adopted by the Board; provides stability and continuity. Produced in searchable PDF for reference purposes.

Additional Board members added to bring talents in publicity and communications; search strengthened for increased New York and Washington representation and focus on recruiting past fellows.

CINTAS Foundation begins negotiations with the University of Miami (Coral Gables, FL), with Dean Charles Eckman to donate archives to the Cuban Heritage Collection.

MOA+D new director discontinues collaboration with CINTAS. Fellows Collection placed in storage. Annual fellows exhibitions on a limited basis.

The CINTAS Foundation Fellowship Program will now fulfill the original intent of its founder, Oscar B. Cintas, and offer Fellowships to Cubans and those of Cuban descent – regardless of whether they live in or outside of Cuba.

Victor Deupi is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Miami School of Architecture where he teaches history and theory, design, and representation. He received a Bachelor of Science in architecture from the University of Virginia, a Master of Architecture from Yale University, and a Ph.D. in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. 

CINTAS begins to collaborate with recognized symphonies for its music fellows to have their work performed in live venues.

Maestro Eduardo Marturet premieres annual winner CINTAS Fellow composer's work at The Miami Symphony Orchestra, MISO performance.

Between the Real and the Imagined: Abstract Art from CINTAS Fellows. Coral Gables Museum. Curated by Elizabeth Cerejido.

Between the Real and the Imagined: Abstract Art from CINTAS Fellows explores the language of abstraction in the work of CINTAS Visual Arts Fellows. The selected works range from the geometric abstraction of Rafael Soriano, Mario Carreño and José Mijares executed in Cuba in the 1950s, the concrete and constructive experiments of Carmen Herrera and Zilia Sánchez produced in the diaspora, to the 1980s hard-edge abstraction of Fernando García and the more recent multi-dimensional installations by María Martínez-Cañas, Leyden Rodríguez Casanova, and Vanessa Díaz, to name a few. Together, the works featured in this exhibition—each with their distinct approaches to form, space and materiality—map how modern and contemporary artists in Cuba and in the diaspora have engaged with non-representational practices from mid-century to the present.

Donation of CINTAS Archives to UM Cuban Heritage Collection agreement executed. Full-time CINTAS administrator engaged.

A Gaze through the CINTAS Fellowship Program: A Selection of Works from the Cintas Foundation. Curated by Adriana Ospina, Museum of the Americas, OAS.

Celso González-Falla, Esq.

Born in La Habana, Cuba and educated at Colegio de Belen, (Bachiller de Letras), (1940-1953), Universidad Catolica de Santo Tomas de Villanueva and graduated from law school, (1953- 1958). He worked with his family in the cattle and sugar business. He left Cuba as a political asylee in 1961 and arrived in Texas in June of that year. He is a member of the Texas Bar and was licensed to practice law in Texas on September,18, 1967. 

Celso’s main passions are Cuba, photography, and writing. His first novel “My Lost Cuba” was published in October of 2013, and a translation “La Cuba que Perdímos” was published in September of 2016. He also has privately published two books of poems. Pa’Ella, Paris November 2011, and “Cuántas Veces” a book of poems and photographs, November 2017. He is presently working on a book on short stories.

Music composition winners to have their work performed as part of the FIU with Orlando Jacinto Garcia.

COVID-19 pandemic. Annual Fellowship program suspended; replaced by $100,000 donation distributed among all applicants.

Sale of two Old Masters Collection works to replenish Foundation Funds.

All Stars: CINTAS Foundation Fellows in Architecture & Design from 1963 to 2022, at the Coral Gables Museum.

Sondra Gillman Gonzalez-Falla Fellowship in Photography.

The CINTAS Foundation proudly announces the inception of its first fellowship dedicated exclusively to the art of photography. The fellowship is named in honor of Sondra Gilman González-Falla and generously funded by her family. 

Sondra Gilman held a variety of leadership positions. At the Whitney Museum of American Art, she was Chairman of the Painting and Sculpture Committee, Vice President of the Executive Committee, Chair of the Photography Committee, and served on the Permanent Collection Review, Building, and Facilities Committees. She played an instrumental role in bringing photography into the Whitney’s collection leading the initiative to create a committee devoted to the acquisition of photographs. The position of curator of photography and the Museum’s photography gallery were endowed by and named after her. She also started the Gilman Paper Company collection now hosted at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The CINTAS Foundation celebrates its 60th Anniversary.