5.0 out of 5 stars 1 rating. In 1943, Wifredo Lam was in the midst of re-acquainting himself with his native Cuba, especially its population of African descent. Wifredo Lam (Cuban 1902-1982) Untitled signed and dated 'Wifredo Lam 1944' (lower right) gouache on paper 39 x 27½ in. Lam is remembered by his Surrealist-like and Cubist-like paintings that embodied his signature style: a sort-of hybrid between these two movements; a new style that did not perfectly fit into Western categories. [21] Fuente, Alejandro de la, Valdés Elio Rodríguez, and Dennys Matos. [22] Mosquera, Gerardo. [20] Fuente, Alejandro de la, and Valdés Elio Rodríguez. Pittsburgh, PA: Mattress Factory, 2010. The Jungle, above, is the most famous example of his work and displays the merging of European painting tradition in its Cubist perspective yet the masked figures amidst the sugarcane and … Growing up in Sagua la Grande, Cuba, his mother’s hometown, Lam was surrounded by his godmother, a priestess in the chapter of Santa Barbara (Shango), as well as by other African customs from the area. [8] La Jungla (1943) is a large (239.4 x 229.9 cm) gouache on paper art piece mounted on canvas, that features vibrant colors that resembled the tropical flora Lam observed in Cuba. [10] Fletcher, Valerie, and Lowery S Sims. The frutas bomba, specifically, “serve as visual puns for breasts” that emphasize “the integration of the female form with the landscape — a long-standing symbolism in both European and African traditions”. The dense composition creates a claustrophobic feeling while the forms remain difficult to differentiate. [15] Fletcher, Valerie, and Lowery S Sims. 2). Wifredo Lam could break Diego Rivera's record at auctions with a work that vindicates Afro-Cuban roots. Lowery Stokes Sims, the former Curator Emerita for the Museum of Arts and Design, even stated that: Lam’s mixed ancestry summarized the history and culture of Cuba, which from the sixteenth through the nineteenth century was dominated by the influx of people from all over the world. [16]The image of the femme cheval and the image of the Santería priestess act “not only as protectors and disseminators of Afro-Cuban culture, but also as models of empowerment over and against their white exploiters and colonizers”. “Syncretism and Syntax in the Art of Wifredo Lam.” 181. (123.5 x 108.8 cm.) We believe art has the power to transform lives and to build understanding across cultures. 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. “Riding Modernism: Wifredo Lam’s Decenterings.” Nka Journal of Contemporary African Art1997, no. [11] Mosquera, Gerardo. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1976, 188-189. “Wifredo Lam: A Sketch.” Callaloo34 (Winter 1988): 91-92. December 08 Horoscope. During the early 1920s, he exhibited at the Salón de la Asociación de Pintores y Escultores in Havana. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1996. In 1916, his family moved to Havana, where he attended the Escuela de Bellas Artes. Wifredo Lam: Modernity’s Trojan Horse. Before Fame. Unlike most New World countries, which had won independence during the early and middle years of the nineteenth century, Cubra gained autonomy from Spain only in 1902, the year Lam was born. Wifredo Lam The Jungle (La Jungla) 1943. Although Lam described the Bergman piece as “one of the preparations for La Jungle ” (letter to Edwin Bergman of April 1956), to which it bears a close general resemblance, there is no exact counterpart to its subject in the larger work. [13], In order for Lam’s Modernism to successfully become a rejection of the hegemonic European Modernism, cultural and religious practices like Cuban Santería and Haitian Voodoo, could not be ignored. From twentieth century Cuba to the prestigious galleries of New York’s MoMA and the well-known Queloides exhibition in the twenty-first century, the way La Jungla (1943) confronts dislocation and assimilation remains relevant and inspiration to artists and members of the African diaspora everywhere. “Syncretism and Syntax in the Art of Wifredo Lam.” 169. Wifredo Lam (1902-1982) Femme cheval signed and dated 'Wifredo Lam 1950' (lower right) oil on canvas 48 5/8 x 42 7/8 in. Lam gave his figures masklike faces, some similar to horse heads, and eroticized them … Around this time, Lam moved to Cuba to create paintings that would move him “closer to his own culture instead of moving away” and this is the period in his life where his most renowned work, La Jungla (1943) (Fig. [17], Even though Lam’s Négritude was, naturally, very autochthonous to Lam’s practice, this desire to use visual art to deconstruct the European perspectives of the time can also be identified in the work of other Latin American Modernists, for instance: Diego Rivera, Joaquin Torres-Garcia, and Roberto Matta. Wifredo Oscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla was born December 8, 1902, in Sagua la Grande, Cuba. Lam’s ethnic and cultural heritage included the African diaspora in Cuba, and when he returned to the island in the 1940s, he became reengaged … 6–7 (January 1997): 16–21 . In 1972, an entire room was dedicated to the artist at the 36 th Venice Biennale. 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