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Tomy’s strokes
make their farewell
07-09-2010
Tomás Rodríguez Zayas (Tomy). Foto: Juventud
Rebelde
Amelia Duarte de la
Rosa
CUBAN cartoon art is in mourning,
having lost one of its greats, Tomás Rodríguez
Zayas, one of our most outstanding national
graphic humorists. Tomy, the nom de plume that
identified him, died in Havana yesterday at the
age of 61, the victim of a heart condition.
Merited winner of the Juan Gualberto
Gómez National Journalism Prize and the Félix
Elmuza Distinction, Tomy worked as a cartoonist
for Granma daily and Granma
International.
A native of Barahagua, Holguín, and
an agronomist by training, from 1968 Tomy
dedicated his talent to the press, with numerous
collaborations in national and international
magazines. A member of the Union of Cuban
Journalists and the National Union of Writers and
Artists of Cuba, Tomy – who was also president of
the Association of Humorists of Cuba and artistic
director of the Dedeté supplement of
Juventud Rebelde – took part in various
humor exhibitions, with many one-man shows in
Cuba, Angola, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Korea,
Mexico, France, Colombia, Brazil, Turkey and
Venezuela, among other countries.
His cartoons, which prompted both
laughter and reflection, remain as part of our
heritage of graphic humor. The Cuban press
treasures an acknowledged and highly estimated
work in the figure of Tomy, whose face, although
it will no longer be seen in our pressrooms, will
always be remembered.
Tomás Rafael Rodríguez Zayas (Tomy)
Natural de Barajagua, Holguín, 1949, se dio a conocer en el universo de la
caricatura cubana a finales de la década del 60.
Desde 1968 comenzó a trabajar en el periódico Juventud Rebelde y muy pronto
formó parte de la época dorada del Dedeté, el suplemento humorístico de ese
diario.
Sus trabajos como caricaturista, por los que mereció innumerables premios
nacionales e internacionales, sobresalieron en la temática política y el humor
general.
Tomy además incursionó en otros géneros de la plástica como la ilustración,
el diseño, la pintura, el grabado y el mural.
Entre sus reconocimientos se encuentran el Primer en Humor Político. Salón
de la Prensa, Porto Alegre, Brasil(1999), el del Certamen de Humor Gráfico,
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Islas Canarias, España (2000) y el Premio en sátira
política. Bienal de Bahía, Bahía, Brasil. (2001)
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