Biography: Wifredo Lam

(Cuban, 1902 – 1982)

Wifredo Lam is one of the remarkable figures of 20th-century art. Born in Cuba of a Chinese father and a mother of African, Indian and European decent, Lam’s career path and artistic style were truly international. He combined elements of European modernism, Latin American traditions and African mystique and iconography with a high level of authenticity. Merging human, animal and plant forms in abstracted fashion, and taking clues from jungle scenery and voodoo and other rituals, Lam’s angular forms often resulted in menacing imagery. After studying in Havana, he went to Madrid, then in 1938 settled in Paris, where he would spend most of his career. In 1939, he joined the Surrealists, and in the early 1950s took part in a CoBrA exhibition in Liege, Belgium. After his initial move to Paris, Lam also spent time in Cuba, Haiti, New York and Italy. His work has been shown in prominent exhibitions and museums all over the world, including Germany’s Kassel Dokumenta and the Venice Biennale. Lam’s paintings are in the collections of most major museums, including the Guggenheim and Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tate Gallery in London.