Wifredo Lam

b. 1902, Sagua la Grande, Cuba; d. 1982, Paris

Wifredo Lam, was a Cuban artist who sought to portray and revive the enduring Afro-Cuban spirit and culture. 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. This distinctive visual style of his also influences many artists. Though he was predominantly a painter, he also worked with sculpture, ceramics and printmaking in his later life.

Featured Exhibitions
AMERICANA: Formalizing Craft: Polly Apfelbaum Mojo Jojo, 2001
exhibition

AMERICANA

In this first exhibition cycle, AMERICANA includes art produced in South America, North America, and the Caribbean presented in the form of six short visual essays, each offering a critical perspective on a set of related issues in modern culture and society of particular interest to progressive artists.
Carmen Herrera. Alba, 2014.
exhibition

The Gift of Art

For the presentation of the museum’s permanent collection during our 35th anniversary year, this understanding of art was conflated conceptually with the celebration of donations of art that have been made to the museum during the last several decades. The artworks represented outstanding examples of the works that have been gifted to the museum since it first…
Kevin Beasley, Untitled (parade), 2016.
exhibition

Within Genres

Informed by these interests in art history, the current presentation of the permanent collection— which was installed thematically within two rooms on the first floor and four rooms on the second—is organized around the historical criteria of genres within Western painting and the traditional hierarchy of genres that developed out of the Renaissance period and was promoted…