"Catálogo de Imprevistos" (Catalog of the Unforeseen) by Julio Matas represents an important example of early revolutionary Cuban book design, featuring cover art by Raúl Martínez, one of Cuba's most significant visual artists who would become central to revolutionary graphic design. The cover employs bold geometric abstraction with interlocking rectangles and squares in golden yellow, red, and black against cream—a composition that evokes both constructivist modernism and suprematist experimentation. The asymmetrical arrangement suggests architectural blueprints or printing blocks, with the inclusion of a circle adding dynamic tension to the rectilinear forms, creating visual metaphors for unexpected juxtapositions befitting the title's theme of cataloging the unforeseen.
Published by Ediciones Revolución in December 1963 during the "Año de la Organización" (Year of Organization), this poetry collection by Julio Matas—theater director, actor, and Director of the Teatro Lírico—exemplifies how revolutionary Cuba integrated literary production with sophisticated visual design from the Revolution's earliest years. Part of the "Cuadernos ERE" series, the book demonstrates the regime's commitment to producing aesthetically ambitious publications even amid material scarcity, with a modest print run of 1,000 copies. Raúl Martínez would go on to become one of Cuba's most celebrated artists, known for his pop art-influenced posters and revolutionary iconography. This early design work shows his mastery of geometric abstraction before his later iconic figurative styles, positioning Cuban book design within international modernist traditions while developing a distinctive revolutionary aesthetic vocabulary.