In 1946, he and Breton spent four months in Haiti. This merging of human, animal, and plant forms is described as magical metamorphosis. Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York. "Wifredo Lam." While Lam's early paintings were in the modernist Spanish tradition, his work soon became more simplified and decorative. Several times I have visited that city and always, despite my efforts to establish a friendly relationship with her, on leaving I have sworn not to return. "Wifredo Lam." Washington University. [6] The Jungle was ultimately purchased by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Trivia. "Wifredo Lam," Musée national d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, September 30, 2015–February 15, 2016; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, April 5-August 15, 2016; Tate Modern, London, September 14, 2016–January 8, 2017. Visit the Frank Lloyd Wright–designed Guggenheim Museum in NYC, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. African poetry, on the other hand, was said to have had a broadening effect on his paintings. After meeting André Breton, Lam became an active member of the Surrealist movement. In 1960, Lam established a studio in Albissola Marina on Italy's northwest coast and settled there with his wife Lou Laurin, a Swedish painter, and their three sons. Wifredo Lam was a Cuban-born artist, best known for his large scale paintings which reference modernist aesthetics and Afro-Cuban imagery to explore themes of social injustice, spirituality and rebirth. The work was sold as part of the Alain and Candice Fraiberger collection. From the personal collection of Juan Castillo Vázquez, Havana, Cuba." [1] He painted generic figures, creating the universal. Translate; Career; Random; Home Sculptor Wifredo Lam . He sailed in 1941, eventually returning to Havana. "Drawings by Picasso and Gouaches by Wifredo Lam." Lam, like many of the most renowned artists of the 20th century, combined radical modern styles with the "primitive" arts of the Americas. The faces of the female figures in Lam’s Composition (The Three Oranges) (1940), like those in Picasso’s earlier Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907), resemble African masks. December 08 Horoscope. He was the eighth child born to Lam-Yam―born in Canton around 1820, an immigrant to the Americas in 1860―and to Ana Serafina Catilla―born in 1862 in Cuba of mixed African and Spanish ancestry. "Lam Paintings." November 13–December 2, 1939. Inspired by and in contact with some of the most renowned artists of the 20th century, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, Lam melded his influences and created a unique style, which was ultimately characterized by the prominence of hybrid figures. Wifredo Óscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla (December 8, 1902-September 11, 1982) was a major 20th century painter who fused elements of Cubism and Surrealism with African culture in paintings, which were exhibited in his lifetime alongside those of Pablo Picasso and other Cubists and Fauvists. Inspired by and in contact with some of the most renowned artists of the twentieth century, Lam melded his influences and created a unique style, which was ultimately characterized by the prominence of hybrid figures. Lam's work went from showing the influence of Matisse, seen in his still lifes, landscapes and simplified portraits, to being influenced by Cubism. [1] Though his dislike for academic conservatism persisted, his time in Spain marked his technical development, in which he began to merge a primitive aesthetic and the traditions of Western composition. At the encouragement of Asger Jorn and after being intrigued by the local pottery-making, Lam began to experiment with ceramics and had his first ceramic exhibition in 1975. Lehigh University Art Galleries, Zoellner Arts Center, Bethlehem PA, August 30–December 10, 2017. Through his godmother, Matonica Wilson, a Santería priestess locally celebrated as a healer and sorceress, he was exposed to rites of the African orishas. 1943 For this Poetry Project, we asked Robin Coste Lewis, the poet laureate of Los Angeles, to invite a group of poets to contribute an original poem written in response to a work of art in MoMA’s collection. Wifredo Lam. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. The imagery of the tropics is also suggested with the densely packed cane stalks and palm leaves that merge with the figures, mirroring cosmological concepts from Afro-Cuban religions where deities that inhabit elements in nature. [4], During the 1930s, Lam was exposed to a variety of influences. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Show Quick Facts [ edit] Full name : Wifredo Lam How old is Wifredo Lam: 80 years Male The Jungle was not, however, intended to describe the primitivism of Cuba. Additionally, his time in Cuba marked a rapid evolution of his style. Wifredo Lam was born and raised in Sagua La Grande, a village in the sugar farming province of Villa Clara, Cuba. In this way I could act as a Trojan horse that would spew forth hallucinating figures with the power to surprise, to disturb the dreams of the exploiters."[6]. [7] Picasso and Lam also exhibited their work together at the Perls Galleries in New York in the same year. There he rejoined many intellectuals, including the Surrealists, with whom he had been associated since he met André Breton in 1939. Between 1918 and 1923, Lam studied painting at the Escuela de Bellas Artes, but preferred painting outdoors to the traditional academic setting. … The basic facts and truisms that have been reiterated in the existing Lam literature serve as the starting point of this study: he was born in 1902 in Sagua le Grande, Cuba. It reflected his mature style, depicting four figures with mask-like heads, half-emerging from dense tropical vegetation. [6] At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, he sided with the Republicans and used his talent to fashion Republican posters and propaganda. ‘Mofumbe’ was created in 1943 by Wifredo Lam in Surrealism style. Central Institute of Fine Arts, Beijing; Palace of Fine Arts, Shanghaï; Institute of Fine Arts, Hangzhou, Institute of Fine Arts; Guangzhou; Art Center, Hong Kong, September 1991–March, 1992. Lam continued to simplify and synthesize abstraction yet continued painting figurally; he also kept on developing the mythology and totemism that defined his style. After meeting André Breton, Lam became an active member of the Surrealist movement. Though the drawings he created in Marseille between 1940 and 1941 are known as the Fata Morgana suite, only about three inspired the illustrations for the poem. December 8, 1902 (age 80) Birthplace . "Wifredo Lam." Though he was predominantly a painter, he also worked with sculpture, ceramics and printmaking in his later life. A new record was established on June 28, 2020 when Sotheby's auctioned Lam's "Omi Obini" for $9,603,800. Through Picasso Lam met members of the Parisian avant-garde, and he began to experiment with various Modernist styles. Find more prominent pieces of figurative at Wikiart.org – best visual art database. "Review: Multiculturalism in the Americas. [15] The previous record for the artist was set in May 2012, when Idolo (Oya/Divinit de l'air de la mort) sold for $4.56m. ", Nessen, Susan. Piero Atchugarry Gallery, in Little River, featured an interesting show earlier this year that consisted of a group of paintings by well-known Cuban master Wifredo Lam that are dated between 1925 and 1927, years in which this artist spent long periods of time at the Castilian town of Cuenca, in Spain. Manolo gave Lam the letter of introduction that sparked his friendship with Picasso, whose artwork had impressed and inspired Lam a year before when he saw an exhibition in Madrid. Born: Wifredo Oscar de la Concepcion Lam y Castilla, Sagua la Grande, 2 December 1902. "Wifredo Lam, Imagining New Worlds, McMullen Museum of Art," Boston, August 30–December 14, 2014; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, February 10–May 24, 2015. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. "Wifredo Lam et les poètes." Galerie Pierre, Paris. In 1936 and 1937 he fought for the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War, fleeing Barcelona for Paris in 1938 with a letter of introduction to Pablo Picasso. Wifredo Óscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla (Chinese: 林飛龍; Jyutping: lam4 fei1lung4; December 8, 1902 – September 11, 1982), better known as Wifredo Lam, was a Cuban artist who sought to portray and revive the enduring Afro-Cuban spirit and culture. [6] In 1950, he worked with René Portocarrero and others; in the village of Santiago de Las Vegas, the group of painters worked on ceramic. Wifredo Lam b. … The meaning of the name Lam: Forest FUN FACTS Sculptor Wifredo Lam were born on Monday, birthstone is Turquoise, the seaon was Fall in the Chinese year of Tiger, it is 337 days until Wifredo Lam next birthday. June 30 – July 14, 1939. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Initial interests in law and botany gave way to his desire to revive an Afro-Cuban spirit and culture through his painting. [1], In 1938, Lam moved to Paris. Wifredo Lam always gave art historians and curators a hard time to locate his work within the art schools of the 20 th century. Catherine David (ed. Lam was born to a Chinese immigrant father and a mother of African and Spanish descent. Wifredo Lam. Musée Campredon, Maison René Char, L'Isle sur la Sorgue, France, July 7–October 2, 2005. Before Fame. Oil on canvas; 125.4 x 110.8 cm. Master of Arts. Decentered, inhospitable, hazardous or impossible for urban walker: Atlanta is not given to open the visitor who arrives there. Wifredo Lam: Negotiating Transcultural Modernism And Artistic Indentity In Europe, The Caribbean, And The United States. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. "Wifredo Lam in North America," Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, Milwaukee October 11, 2007–January 21, 2008. Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wifredo-Lam. "[1] Lam gained the approval of Picasso, whose encouragement has been said to have led Lam to search for his own interpretation of modernism.[6]. With regard to Picasso's exhibition, Lam said that it was "not only a revelation, but… a shock. December 12–31, 1945. Atlanta is not one of my favorite cities. Fondation Dapper, Paris, September 26, 2001–January 20, 2002. 1902, Sagua la Grande, Cuba; d. 1982, Paris Wifredo Oscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla was born December 8, 1902, in Sagua la Grande, Cuba. Upon Lam's return to Havana, he developed a new awareness of Afro-Cuban traditions. He progressed to model sculptures and cast in metal in his twilight years, often depicting personages similar to those he had painted. Birthday . Wifredo Óscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla, Richards, Paulette. Wifredo Lam (Sagua la Grande, 1902 - París, 1982) Pintor cubano. "Wifredo Lam 1902–1982: Voyages entre caraïbes et avant-gardes," Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes, France, May 6–August 29, 2010. Corrections? Wifredo Lam (Cuban, 1902–1982) was a Cuban-born painter, draughtsman, and sculptor, born to a Chinese father and Afro-Cuban mother. Wifredo Lam and the International Avant-Garde, 1923-1982 (Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Series in Latin American and L) [7] In 1944, he married Helana Holzer, whom he divorced in 1950. Omissions? A major early 20th-century painter, Wifredo Lam fused elements of Cubism and Surrealism with African culture in paintings that were exhibited alongside those of Pablo Picasso and other Cubists and Fauvists. [1] Mainly working with gouache, Lam began producing stylized figures that appear to be influenced by Picasso. Content. Simultaneously he also began studying tropical plants at the Botanical Gardens. Drawing from his study of tropical plants and familiarity with Afro-Cuban culture, his paintings became characterized by the presence of a hybrid figure—part human, part animal, and part vegetal. "Homenaje a Wifredo Lam 1902–1982." Lam was born to a Chinese immigrant father and a mother of African and Spanish descent. "Wifredo Lam." "Wifredo Lam Peintures." Dias Ramos, Afonso. Wifredo Lam - pintor afrocubano In this final episode of the series, practice your Spanish listening while learning all about Wifredo Lam, the very interesting 20th-century Cuban painter. "Wifredo Lam." Biography Wifredo Lam was born in Sagua la Grande, Cuba, on December 8, 1902. [12], The Jungle, which is considered Lam's masterpiece, is exemplary of the artist's mature style. He left for Madrid, Spain in the autumn of 1923 to further his art studies. In 1923, Lam moved to Spain, where he remained until the late 1930s. [1] In 1941, Breton, Lam and Claude Lévi-Strauss, accompanied by many others, left for Martinique, only to be imprisoned. He noticed that the descendants of the slaves were still being oppressed and that the Afro-Cuban culture was degraded and made picturesque for the sake of tourism. The London Gallery, London. In 1923, Lam began studying in Madrid under Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor y Zaragoza, the curator of the Museo del Prado and teacher of Salvador Dalí. Born in the small town of Sagua la Grande at the turn of the century, his father was a Chinese immigrant and his mother a descendent of both Spanish conquistadors and African slaves. [1] In Sagua La Grande, Lam was surrounded by many people of African descent; his family, like many others, practiced Catholicism alongside their African traditions. While in Marseille, Lam and Breton collaborated on the publication of Breton's poem Fata Morgana, which was illustrated by Lam. It is often compared to Picasso's Guernica, which is hung in the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid. In 1940 Lam went to Marseilles, where he joined a large number of intellectuals attempting to flee France and World War II. Surrealism’s involvement with myth, the subconscious, automatism, and, in particular, non-Western art was critical to the development of his work. African art enjoyed a vogue in Paris in the 1930s, particularly among the Surrealists, and its influence on Lam’s work of this period is evident. [5] Throughout Lam's travels through the Spanish countryside, he developed empathy for the Spanish peasants, whose troubles in some ways mirrored those of the former slaves he grew up around in Cuba.