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Latin Forum Picture This the genuine article The works of wilfredo Lam, the most celebrated Cuban artist of the 20th century, contributed a non-European Afro-Cuban voice to the evolution of Western art. Born in Sagua La Grande, Cuba in 1902 to a Chinese father and a mother of African and Spanish ancestry, his early life was grounded in Santería, a religion that combines African Yoruba deity worship with the Catholic tradition of prayer to the saints. When Picasso and other artists of the time turned to African art for inspiration to revitalize European approaches, Lam combined these traditions not as an outsider but as a rightful possessor of both. The influences can be seen in the current exhibit, Wilfredo Lam in North America, which presents 65 of his most important paintings, gouaches and drawings from U.S. collections. The first major show of Lam’s work in the U.S. since the artist’s death in 1982, the exhibit has refocused interest in Lam’s significant impact on the development of modern art. Meanwhile, his oldest son and wife, Lou Laurin, a Swedish-born artist who lives in Paris and manages the Lam estate, have been waging a campaign against forgeries of his work. The exhibit moves next to the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. What: Femme assisse (Seated Woman)
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