Havana, Cuba.- The National Ballet of Cuba (BNC) lamented the death today of renowned plastic artist Cosme Proenza, due to complications associated with Covid-19.

A statement from the institution highlights Proenza’s closeness to the work of the BNC and cites as an example her painting Siempre Alicia, part of the collective exhibition Alicia Alonso dances here tonight, which commemorated the 90th birthday of the prima ballerina assoluta.

The aforementioned piece is part of the collection of the National Museum of Dance and was chosen to be the cover of the book Cuban Prosas by Alicia Alonso, by researchers Pedro Simón and José Ramón Neyra.

The painter, sculptor, illustrator and muralist, the note points out, created in 2006 the design for the final scene of the ballet Pictures at an exhibition, with choreography by Alonso and music by the famous Russian composer Modest Musorgski (1839-1881).

According to the statement, the artist attended the premiere of the work as well as the homonymous exhibition in which his work appeared together with that of other painters involved in the realization of that ballet.

The BNC recalls that in 2007, during a season in the Canadian city of Hamilton, Proenza exhibited his work as part of the exhibition On the Island of Magic.

With the death of the artist born in Holguín in 1948, “Cuban plastic arts lose one of its most prominent figures, and the National Ballet of Cuba a close friend and collaborator,” the statement concludes.