"Wifredo Lam In North America" at the MAM

[cubanmiamiboy]

Yesterday i went to the Wifredo Lam exhibition at the Miami Art Museum, which has been organized by the Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsinwill, and will be here until may 18. Lam (1902-1982) is considered one of the most important painters within the cuban artistic modern scene, and since his death, there has been an emerging consensus that he is one of the most important artists of the 20th century. Lam grew up in Cuba with a grandmother who practised Voodoo rituals and came of age in Paris, where he and Picasso became very close friends and artistic associates. In 1939 he joined the Surrealists and he collaborated on a book, Fata Morgana, with André Breton, who wrote the text that accompanied Lam's drawings. After the Germans invaded France, Lam left Europe on the same ship as Breton and Masson, helped in part by the International Rescue Committee, in token of which, many years later, Lam contributed a lithograph to the Flight Portfolio as a fundraiser. Returning to Cuba, Lam's work continued to mix Afro-Cuban and European influences. After the war, Lam travelled before finally settling in Paris, with side trips to Italy. Where Picasso and the German Expressionists turned to African art to revitalize European traditions, Lam combines these traditions not as an outsider but as a rightful possessor of both. His art offers the fantastic images of a living but alien tradition to a world needing to find a new conception of the civilized. Lam's works are to be found in many important collections of modern art including the MOMA ,the Guggenheim and the Tate; his works have been shown at major museums and important galleries in New York, Paris, Dusseldorf, Madrid (the Reina Sofia), Barcelona (the Fundation Miró), The Art Institute (Chicago), the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Carnegie Institute (Pittsburgh), the Kassel Documenta (1959, 1960, 1965), the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), the Venice Biennale (1972), the Museo de Arte Moderno (Mexico), the National Museum of Modern Art (Tokyo), and many others. It is of great excitement and joy to see this marvelous painter being honored with such a great exhibition. Many thanks to those who made it possible.

http://www.miamiartmuseum.org/exhibitions-current-lam.asp

[dirac]

Thank you for telling us about your visit!

[Helene]

Cristian, how do you attend all of these events while working and being in school?

[bart]

Cristian, how do you attend all of these events while working and being in school?

I was just about to ask that!

You make me jealous and a little sad to be living this far up the often treacherous I-95 (or Turnpike), which makes evening trips to Miami a big chore. Anyway, you're stimulating me to include Miami more often in our plans for next seaon.

Thanks for the review of this, the Cuban Classical Ballet, and Florida Grand Opera. South Florida (Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties) has so many high-level arts organizations and such a rich perfomance schedule. Thanks to all those Northerners who come down here bringing their love of thearts, high standards, and ... money!

[Vivian]

Cristian, how do you attend all of these events while working and being in school?

[dirac]

Thanks, Vivian. What did you think of the exhibition?

[cubanmiamiboy]

Cristian, how do you attend all of these events while working and being in school?

He,he...good question, Helene. I even ask myself. Let's say. This past Sunday, WHICH I DIDN'T HAVE TO STAY HOME STUDYING ALL DAY LONG BECAUSE I WAS IN BETWEEN SEMESTERS, i went to the Lam exhibition at noon, meet with my mom for lunch for mom's day at Downtown, went together to the CCBM at 5 pm in Little Havana and then from there i even went to the closing of the Piano Festival in Miami Beach, which i haven't even have time to post. Today i started already my new semester , so i usually go to the school (medical campus) at 6 am for 3 hours, and then i change my clothes and go to work, until 7 pm, and if there's something (opera, ballet, etc), i get changed at work and go straight to the theater, just to go back home to seat and study AT MINIMUM for 2 hours every day, even if it's midnight...and then i try to post something here.

[cubanmiamiboy]

Thanks, Vivian. What did you think of the exhibition?

Cristian, how do you attend all of these events while working and being in school?

Oops, so i guess it's time already to reveal a little secret. Here's the story. Vivian, the new member, is no other than my mom! Well, the most of the times i take her with me to all the performances, which she loves, so i encouraged her and finally convinced her to sign in on the board. But then, due to some language barriers and a little bit of shyness, she doesn't post as much as she would love to. Today, while visiting her, i used her computer to log in , without realizing that the board home page was under her screenname...,and then i answered Helene post!...(silly me) . I edited it already . By the way dirac, my mom loved the exhibition. She's an Art teacher, and her major in Cuba was History of Art.

(To Vivian: Hey mom, time to speak out! )