The major retrospective that the Reina Sofia Museum of Madrid dedicated to Cuban Wilfredo Lam proposes an ambitious reinterpretation of his work through nearly 250 works that can appreciate widely different facets of one of the most fascinating artists of the twentieth century.
the exhibition has been displayed earlier in the Pompidou in Paris in a smaller version as the Madrid has reinforced the presence of works of his early years in Spain and forties. Later, the exhibition will travel to the Tate Modern in London.
Some of the works that have been incorporated in the Reina Sofia have never seen, are little known or, as Ejkil Lam one of the artist’s children said, only they knew “for photos is very exciting to see them hanging.”
Although the work of Lam (Sagua La Grande, Cuba 1902 – Paris, 1982). is recognized and present prominently in international collections and museums and has been the subject of major exhibitions, there are still “some misunderstandings and simplistic enthusiasms”, as some approaches simplified or falsified perception “of a complex work.”
This was stated by curator Catherine David, for whom rapid assimilation to Cubism and surrealism “was a card entry into the clan of the modern, but its work is much more complex. “
the son of a Chinese father, a native of Canton, and mulatto mother a descendant of slaves and Spaniards, Wifredo Lam is an artist” difficult to understand who has tried to place in categories too defined and stable, “said the director of the Reina Sofia, Manuel Borja-Villel.
the work of Lam is related to many places at once,” a sort of external exile and interior ” he said.
the route, divided into five large blocks, try to reposition his work in the history of international art as well as pay special attention to the progressive stages of a built work between Spain, France, Italy and Cuba.
“Spain (1923-1938)” is a time when the artist is gradually released from the academic practice learned in Havana and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid.
Discover the works of Gris, Miro and Picasso in the “Exhibition of paintings and sculptures by Spanish residents in Paris” in 1929 in Madrid, as well as paintings by Gauguin, the German expressionists and Matisse, who see in catalogs and magazines that help you simplify the forms in large areas of solid colors.
the works in Madrid, Cuenca, Leon, Malaga and Barcelona, who left in the hands of friends when he fled precipitately to France after have committed to the republican forces, reappeared after the death of the artist, that thought lost.
in them it is “reveals a long and difficult learning in the former colonial metropolis,” said the curator.
“Paris-Marseille (1938-1941),” Lam discovered the influence of African statuary in European art, claimed by the avant-garde and Picasso. The faces of his characters become so in geometric masks.
“Cuba and America (1941-1952)” covers the period when the artist returned to his country, where he was impressed by corruption, racism and poverty. Her work is full of syncretic figures that unite the vegetable, animal and human, reproducing own spiritual worlds of Caribbean cultures.
Lam “was interested in Santeria but the graphics, not what practical. Lydia Cabrera taught him much, although he was not religious in any sense “, the artist’s son recalled
Between 1952 and 1967., Lam made numerous trips to Paris, Caracas, Havana, Albissola (Italy) and Zurich, often away from the workshop. During his stay in Paris, his friend Asger Jorn presented to the CoBrA artists, with whom he made several exhibitions.
The group’s interest in folk art led him to confront new materials, such as terracotta , and experience new ways.
in 1962 he settled in Albissola and in the center of ceramic lived regularly until his death in 1982. Seduced by the release of work in terracotta and by the play of chance in the process creation, produced about three hundred ceramics during 1975, whose symbols refer to his paintings and drawings.
Those years are also marked by their trips to Egypt, India, Thailand, Mexico and a growing institutional recognition and as for his autobiographical work “The new new world Lam”.
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