Wifredo Lam

Wifredo Lam: Avant-Garde Afro-Cuban Painter

• Report rights infringement
• published: 26 Jun 2014
• views: 6088

Embodying all the exoticism in vogue with the avant-garde circles of Paris in the 1930's and living at the crossroad of four cultural currents: Asian, African, European and American, the internationally renowned Cuban painter Wifredo Lam (1902-1982) was a precursor of a cross-cultural style of painting, infusing Western modernism with African, Caribbean, and Oceanic symbolism. Lam was the eighth son of an 80 year old, educated Cantonese immigrant and a 37 year old Cuban mulatta of Congolese and Spanish ancestry. In his hometown of Sagua La Grande, Lam learned the religion of the Orishas from his godmother, a Santeria priestess. This early contact with African traditions and the luxuriant nature of Cuba were to be defining influences in his art. In 1916, Lam and part of his of family settled in Havana, where he quickly broke from the expectations of his parents, who wanted him to study law, to follow his dream of becoming an artist. He studied at the Academia de San Alejandro until 1923 when at the age of 21, his hometown awarded him a grant to study in Europe. His sojourn in Spain lasted 14 years. There he discovered the old masters at the Prado Museum, and visited the Archeological Museum where he discovered correlations between western art and the so called "primitive" art. In 1938, Lam left civil war torn Spain for Paris. There he developed a close friendship with Picasso, who instantly recognized in him a kindred spirit -- calling him "primo" (cousin) - and introduced him to his friends. Lam was highly impacted by the work of Matisse, Braque, and the Surrealists, as is evident in his early paintings. Lam's work is often full of dark themes; death, anger, and fear. This can be attributed to the death of his wife and infant son in 1931 of tuberculosis. His many paintings on the mother and child theme are a testament of the devastation he endured. This, no doubt was compounded by the wars in Europe, and the ever changing social and political turmoil in Cuba. In 1941 Lam escaped World War II in a ship headed for Martinique with 300 other threatened artists and intellectuals Returning to Cuba after almost 20 years of self-imposed exile, Lam consciously digs deeper into his Afro-Cuban roots: luxuriant nature (lush tobacco leaves, swollen papaya fruits, tall sugarcane stalks, flowers and butterflies) and African deities fuse into hybrid figures (seldom seen in western art since Greek times) that turn into vibrant tropical creations that challenge western constructions of the primitive. In the winter of 1945/46 Lam traveled with his new wife and Andre Breton (founder of Surrealism) to Haiti where they attended voodoo ceremonies. The strength of those rituals greatly impressed him and added a new dark impetus to his vision. His paintings became more violent in tone, the hybrid figures turned totemic. The tropical landscape gave way to somber, ambiguous spaces, and the bright neoimpressionist colors turned to earth tones, black, grays, and white. He studies African poetry, alchemy, hermetism, esoterism, Tao philosophy, Oceanic art, and Jungian psychoanalysis. These arcane worlds of opposites, of death, rebirth and metamorphosis, revitalized his own pictorial language and produce, in Lam's own words "hallucinating figures with the power to surprise," - that make him unique and famous. In the early 1950's, Lam returned to Europe and settles in Paris. He divorces his second wife and in 1964 marries for the third and final time to Lou Laurin Lam with whom he had three sons. He established a second home in Albissola Mare, a small Italian seaside town, where he installed his Totem collection, and which was to be his home for the next 20 years. Throughout the rest of his career, Lam traveled incessantly between Europe and the Americas, sharing his extraordinary intellectual and artistic creativity with the most important figures of the Intelligentsia of the 20th century. He dedicates increasing attention to graphics and ceramics. The outstanding characteristics of his mature art are a sharp and refined draftsmanship, a violent sensuality and a highly personal version of modern primitivism. In 1978 he suffered a massive stroke that left him confined to a wheelchair. His indomitable spirit helped him find the strength to continue working almost until his death in Paris in 1982. According to his wishes he was cremated and his ashes returned to Cuba. THEMES: Mother and Child, Symbolic creatures, Vegetal-animal forms, Cycles of life and death, Horse-headed figures, Mask-like facial features, Lush natural environments, Spirit figures, Large hands, Large Feet, Bird-like forms, African-derived imagery, Stories from religion cription

Wifredo Lam: Avant-Garde Afro-Cuban Painter

• Report rights infringement
• published: 26 Jun 2014
• views: 6088

Embodying all the exoticism in vogue with the avant-garde circles of Paris in the 1930's and living at the crossroad of four cultural currents: Asian, African, European and American, the internationally renowned Cuban painter Wifredo Lam (1902-1982) was a precursor of a cross-cultural style of painting, infusing Western modernism with African, Caribbean, and Oceanic symbolism. Lam was the eighth son of an 80 year old, educated Cantonese immigrant and a 37 year old Cuban mulatta of Congolese and Spanish ancestry. In his hometown of Sagua La Grande, Lam learned the religion of the Orishas from his godmother, a Santeria priestess. This early contact with African traditions and the luxuriant nature of Cuba were to be defining influences in his art. In 1916, Lam and part of his of family settled in Havana, where he quickly broke from the expectations of his parents, who wanted him to study law, to follow his dream of becoming an artist. He studied at the Academia de San Alejandro until 1923 when at the age of 21, his hometown awarded him a grant to study in Europe. His sojourn in Spain lasted 14 years. There he discovered the old masters at the Prado Museum, and visited the Archeological Museum where he discovered correlations between western art and the so called "primitive" art. In 1938, Lam left civil war torn Spain for Paris. There he developed a close friendship with Picasso, who instantly recognized in him a kindred spirit -- calling him "primo" (cousin) - and introduced him to his friends. Lam was highly impacted by the work of Matisse, Braque, and the Surrealists, as is evident in his early paintings. Lam's work is often full of dark themes; death, anger, and fear. This can be attributed to the death of his wife and infant son in 1931 of tuberculosis. His many paintings on the mother and child theme are a testament of the devastation he endured. This, no doubt was compounded by the wars in Europe, and the ever changing social and political turmoil in Cuba. In 1941 Lam escaped World War II in a ship headed for Martinique with 300 other threatened artists and intellectuals Returning to Cuba after almost 20 years of self-imposed exile, Lam consciously digs deeper into his Afro-Cuban roots: luxuriant nature (lush tobacco leaves, swollen papaya fruits, tall sugarcane stalks, flowers and butterflies) and African deities fuse into hybrid figures (seldom seen in western art since Greek times) that turn into vibrant tropical creations that challenge western constructions of the primitive. In the winter of 1945/46 Lam traveled with his new wife and Andre Breton (founder of Surrealism) to Haiti where they attended voodoo ceremonies. The strength of those rituals greatly impressed him and added a new dark impetus to his vision. His paintings became more violent in tone, the hybrid figures turned totemic. The tropical landscape gave way to somber, ambiguous spaces, and the bright neoimpressionist colors turned to earth tones, black, grays, and white. He studies African poetry, alchemy, hermetism, esoterism, Tao philosophy, Oceanic art, and Jungian psychoanalysis. These arcane worlds of opposites, of death, rebirth and metamorphosis, revitalized his own pictorial language and produce, in Lam's own words "hallucinating figures with the power to surprise," - that make him unique and famous. In the early 1950's, Lam returned to Europe and settles in Paris. He divorces his second wife and in 1964 marries for the third and final time to Lou Laurin Lam with whom he had three sons. He established a second home in Albissola Mare, a small Italian seaside town, where he installed his Totem collection, and which was to be his home for the next 20 years. Throughout the rest of his career, Lam traveled incessantly between Europe and the Americas, sharing his extraordinary intellectual and artistic creativity with the most important figures of the Intelligentsia of the 20th century. He dedicates increasing attention to graphics and ceramics. The outstanding characteristics of his mature art are a sharp and refined draftsmanship, a violent sensuality and a highly personal version of modern primitivism. In 1978 he suffered a massive stroke that left him confined to a wheelchair. His indomitable spirit helped him find the strength to continue working almost until his death in Paris in 1982. According to his wishes he was cremated and his ashes returned to Cuba. THEMES: Mother and Child, Symbolic creatures, Vegetal-animal forms, Cycles of life and death, Horse-headed figures, Mask-like facial features, Lush natural environments, Spirit figures, Large hands, Large Feet, Bird-like forms, African-derived imagery, Stories from religion cription