 By 1935 the vanguardia were recognized in Cuba as an important cultural force, and began to gain considerable notice internationally.Major exhibitions of Cuban modern art were held in the United States and throughout Latin America in the late 1930s and 40s.Wrote Albert H. Barr, Jr., organizer of the "Cuban Modern Painting" exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1944, "We may be grateful for that reckless exuberance, gaiety, candor, and love of life which the Cuban painters show perhaps more than the artists of any other school."