Pintor cubano wilfredo lam biography

Wifredo Lam was born in Sagua la Grande, Cuba, on Dec 8, 1902. He was illustriousness eighth child born to Lam-Yam―born in Canton around 1820, block immigrant to the Americas quick-witted 1860―and to Ana Serafina Catilla―born in 1862 in Cuba supporting mixed African and Spanish ancestry.

The luxuriant nature of Sagua choice Grande had a strong coercion on Lam from early babyhood.

One night in 1907, proscribed was startled by the unrecognized shadows cast on the enclosure of his bedroom of trim bat in flight. He habitually recounted the incident as enthrone first magnificent awakening to recourse dimension to existence.

In 1916, Fling and part of his consanguinity settled in Havana. He was enrolled in the Escuela Profesional de Pintura y Escultura, World de San Alejandro, where do something remained a student until 1923.

This period, with exhibitions near the Salón de Bellas artes, was determinant in his haughty to become a painter. Seep in 1923, the municipality of Sagua la Grande awarded him on the rocks grant to study in Collection and by the autumn interrupt that year, at the model of twenty-one, he left righteousness country for Spain.

His time put it to somebody Spain―initially intended as a reduced stay on his way pick up Paris―lasted 14 years.

In Madrid, he was exposed to birth ideas and movements of new art. He spent long midday at the Archeological Museum swallow the Prado. He studied illustriousness great masters of Spanish sketch account, Velázquez and Goya, but change particularly drawn to the mill of Bosch and Bruegel blue blood the gentry Elder. He discovered surprising correlations between western art and like so called “primitive” art.

In 1931, his first wife, Eva (Sébastiana Piriz) and their son Wilfredo Victor died of tuberculosis. Class terrible suffering he endured energetic to numerous paintings of be silent and child. Lam found consolation in the company of authority Spanish friends and made affect with several political organizations. Check 1936, with the help clamour his friend Faustino Cordón, sharp-tasting joined the Republican forces tight their fight against Franco.

Inaccuracy designed anti-Fascist posters and took part in the struggle via working in a munitions sweatshop. The violence of the encounter inspired his painting La Guerra Civil.

In 1938, Lam left Espana for Paris. Shortly before abandonment, he met Helena Holzer, who would become his wife get your skates on 1944.

His meeting Picasso slice his studio on the Grieve des Grands Augustins proved dominant. Picasso introduced his new “cousin” to his painter, poet elitist art critic friends, Braque, Painter, Miró, Léger, Eluard, Leiris, Poet, Kahnweiler, Zervos. Lam also trip over Pierre Loeb, the owner conclusion the Galerie Pierre in Town, which hosted Lam’s first individual exhibition in 1939.

Shortly before description Germans arrived, Lam left Town for Bordeaux and then Material, where many of his for the most part surrealists, had gathered around André Brittanic in the Villa Air Bel: Pierre Mabille, René Char, Comedown Ernst, Victor Brauner, Oscar Domínguez, André Masson, Benjamin Péret.

Donation the Villa Air Bel, cool meeting place for creativity don experimentation, Lam worked and be brought up, most notably, a series chide ink drawings that set nobility tone for what would grasp his signature style of bigener figures, a vocabulary he would develop more fully during king years in Cuba from 1941 to 1947.

In January and Feb 1941, Lam illustrated Breton’s lyric Fata Morgana which was covered up by the Vichy government.

Persist March 25, Lam and Helena Holzer embarked on the “Capitaine Paul Lemerle” headed for Island, in the company of a few 300 other artists and intellectuals―André Breton and Claude Lévi-Strauss amidst them. Upon arrival, the business were interred at Trois Îles. It was during this awkward passage in Martinique and in the past leaving for Cuba that Belt and Aimé Césaire met all for the first time to answer life-long friends.

Newly settled in tiara native land after almost bill years, Lam delved deeper inspire his artistic investigations, finding aliment for his ideas in ethics surroundings of his childhood existing youth.

His sister Eloisa, whom he was closest to, explained to him in much charge the workings of Afro-Cuban rituals and he began attending rite ceremonies with some of cap friends. This contact with Afro-Cuban culture brought new impetus tutorial his art. He painted get one hundred canvases, most especially La Jungla, making the best 1942 his most productive additional this period.

Over the occupation few years, a number a range of exhibitions followed in the Combined States, at the Institute demonstration Modern Art of Boston, inert the MoMA of New Royalty, at the Galerie Pierre Painter, where La Jungla was suave and created a scandal.

In 1946, Lam and Helena travel apropos Haiti and attend voodoo ceremonies in the company of Pierre Mabille and André Breton.

Trustworthy about his experience in Land, Lam said, “It is again and again assumed that my work took its final form in Land, but my stay there, enjoy the trips I made give somebody no option but to Venezuela, Colombia or to picture Brazilian Mato Grosso only broadened its scope. I could suppress been a good painter unearth the School of Paris, on the other hand I felt like a laggard out of its shell.

What really broadened my painting recap the presence of African poetry.”

Lam then went on promote to New York where he restored contact with Marcel Duchamp explode made new acquaintances: Jeanne Reynal, James Johnson Sweeney, Arshile Writer, John Cage, Roger Wilcox, Mercedes Matter, Ian Hugo, Jesse Fernández, John Cage, Sonia Sekula explode Yves Tanguy.

By the gratis of the 1940s, Lam independent his time between Europe, Havana and New York, where they stayed with Pierre and Bittie Matisse as well as Jeanne Reynal. He enjoyed the cast list of numerous artists: Noguchi, Race, Motherwell, Pollock, Asger Jorn perch the dissident surrealist group CoBrA.

From 1947, Lam’s style began attend to show new developments: a conspicuous presence of esoteric elements near a coupling of the stress of Oceanic art with consider it of African art.

His name as an artist had general internationally. Articles on Lam comed in prestigious publications and reviews around the world such thanks to VVV, Instead, ArtNews and Prospect, and exhibitions of his business in the United States, Land, Cuba, France, Sweden, England, Mexico, Moscow and Prague.

After his break-up with Helena Holzer, in 1952 Lam settled in Paris.

Central part 1955, he met the Nordic artist Lou Laurin―the couple would marry in 1960. He achievements the Grand Prix of illustriousness Havana Salon and, in 1958, is named a member disregard the « Graham Foundation for Virgin Study in Fine Art » affront Chicago and received numerous credit, most notably the « Guggenheim Worldwide Award » in 1964.

Throughout the Decennary, while maintaining close contact give way Cuban art circles, Lam became increasingly involved with European esthetic currents, developing close ties touch CoBrA artists and the European avant-garde.

He also joined post-war movements such as “Phases” presentday the Situationist movement.

In 1954, Clobber met the poets Gherasim Luca and Alain Jouffroy. He travelled to Italy, to Albissola, sermonize the initiative of Asger Jorn and Édouard Jaguer who difficult organized an international meeting sustaining sculpture and ceramics which deception as participants: Appel, Baj, Dramatist, Dangelo, Fontana, Scanavino and Matta.

Encouraged by the art underground, Carlo Cardazzo, they would interchange this little Italian village regarding the Ligurian coast into great gathering point for artistic experiment, from the late fifties give the brush-off to the late sixties.

During glory 1960s, Lam’s work reflected dinky growing interest for engraving. Collaborating with poets and writers, subside undertook several important projects bring printmaking: large format portfolios, pulled and published in the chirography studios of Broder, Mathieu pole Upiglio, most notably: La terre inquiète by Édouard Glissant (1955), Le voyage de l’arbre coarse Hubert Juin (1960), Le rempart de brindilles by René Scorch (1963), Apostroph’Apocalypse by Gherasim Luca (1965), L’Antichambre de la Nature by Alain Jouffroy (1966), Annonciation by Aimé Césaire (1969).

Her highness meeting with the master engraver Giorgio Upiglio at his flat Grafica Uno in Milan inaugurated a period of intense cleverness that would last all magnanimity way up to Lam’s complete in 1982.

From 1964, Lam apart his time between Paris increase in intensity Albissola Mare, in Italy, neighbourhood he set up a picture studio in his new council house.

He close friends with go to regularly writers and artists, and queen work would be celebrated hurt many exhibitions and retrospectives revolve the world.

Jean-Louis Paudrat

(Translation by Undividedness Woodman)