Full Moon Edition No. 1 10.26.07
Wifredo Lam in North America
Haggerty Museum of Art
13th & Clybourne Streets. 414-288-1669
www.marquette.edu/haggerty
October 11, 2007 – January 21, 2008
Reviewed by Eleanore Etzler
The Haggerty Museum of Art’s exhibition Wifredo Lam in North
America that opened on October 11, 2007 is one of the most
important exhibitions to have been launched by the museum.
The mini-retrospective of the Cuban modernist painter Wifredo
Lam (1902-1982) brings together a vast array of paintings and
drawings from Lam’s oeuvre and includes wonderful examples
of early, mid-career, and mature works from North American
collections.
Speaking at the event was Dr. Lowry Stokes Sims, the foremost
expert on Lam and his work. Dr. Sims provided a broad
overview of Lam and his work that was both eloquent and
insightful. She primarily focused on Lam’s artistic influences
and the traditions his work drew from. Lam’s influences
included Henri Breton and the Surrealists, Pablo Picasso, and
the Afro-Cuban-Chinese traditions of his upbringing. Such an
explanation of Lam’s work provides an understanding of how
the artist’s visual vocabulary developed through out his career.
Yet, as one observer noted the presentation of Lam’s work in
this light gives a sense that it is derivative. Dr. Sims most
certainly did not intend to present Lam in this manner. Such an
unintended message was likely due to the breadth of material
presented about Lam’s career by Dr. Sims and the exhibition’s
neglect to situate Lam within the context of other Latin
American artists.
The exhibition begins with paintings from Lam’s early career in
which he experimented with various styles ranging from a gritty
realist inspired depiction of cliff houses in Casas colgadas, III
(1927) to the Matisse influenced Portrait of Sra. Garcia de
Castro, II (1937). The most striking of Lam’s early paintings
included in the exhibition is an untitled painting of 1931, which
depicts a Spanish woman gracefully sitting while holding a small
yellow rose to her bosom. The painting’s luminous quality
draws the viewer across the room to examine closely the
glowing contrast of the woman’s ivory skin against her deep
garments and the dark baroque influenced background. The
exacting naturalism and luminosity of the paint stand in
dramatic contrast to Lam’s mid and late-career paintings.
These early paintings are a rare treat to witness the beginning
of an artist’s evolutionary journey towards maturity.
Other equally important works in the exhibition include a
study for Lam’s masterpiece The Jungle and several paintings
of his signature female horse headed creature, the femme
cheval. Perhaps the most sticking of his paintings are those,
such as an untitled 1947 painting depicting mischievous horse
headed dragons and turnip headed impish devils, which
demonstrate Lam’s technical mastery of painting in a smooth,
fluid calligraphic manner. In these paintings, the oil medium
takes on the soft qualities of a wash as it seeps into the paper.
The exhibition, which runs until January 21, 2008 at the
Haggerty Museum, is simply “a must see” for anyone interested
in modern art or Latin American art. Likewise, the exhibition
provides the broadest and most comprehensive array of works
from a major artist’s career that Milwaukee has seen is a long
time. Wifredo Lam in North America should go down as one of
Milwaukee’s most outstanding exhibitions.
Wifredo Lam in North America will travel through 2008 to the
Miami Art Museum, the Museum of Latin American Art in Long
Beach, California and the Salvador Dali Museum in Florida.
Haggerty Museum of Art
13th & Clybourne Streets. 414-288-1669
www.marquette.edu/haggerty
October 11, 2007 – January 21, 2008
Reviewed by Eleanore Etzler
The Haggerty Museum of Art’s exhibition Wifredo Lam in North
America that opened on October 11, 2007 is one of the most
important exhibitions to have been launched by the museum.
The mini-retrospective of the Cuban modernist painter Wifredo
Lam (1902-1982) brings together a vast array of paintings and
drawings from Lam’s oeuvre and includes wonderful examples
of early, mid-career, and mature works from North American
collections.
Speaking at the event was Dr. Lowry Stokes Sims, the foremost
expert on Lam and his work. Dr. Sims provided a broad
overview of Lam and his work that was both eloquent and
insightful. She primarily focused on Lam’s artistic influences
and the traditions his work drew from. Lam’s influences
included Henri Breton and the Surrealists, Pablo Picasso, and
the Afro-Cuban-Chinese traditions of his upbringing. Such an
explanation of Lam’s work provides an understanding of how
the artist’s visual vocabulary developed through out his career.
Yet, as one observer noted the presentation of Lam’s work in
this light gives a sense that it is derivative. Dr. Sims most
certainly did not intend to present Lam in this manner. Such an
unintended message was likely due to the breadth of material
presented about Lam’s career by Dr. Sims and the exhibition’s
neglect to situate Lam within the context of other Latin
American artists.
The exhibition begins with paintings from Lam’s early career in
which he experimented with various styles ranging from a gritty
realist inspired depiction of cliff houses in Casas colgadas, III
(1927) to the Matisse influenced Portrait of Sra. Garcia de
Castro, II (1937). The most striking of Lam’s early paintings
included in the exhibition is an untitled painting of 1931, which
depicts a Spanish woman gracefully sitting while holding a small
yellow rose to her bosom. The painting’s luminous quality
draws the viewer across the room to examine closely the
glowing contrast of the woman’s ivory skin against her deep
garments and the dark baroque influenced background. The
exacting naturalism and luminosity of the paint stand in
dramatic contrast to Lam’s mid and late-career paintings.
These early paintings are a rare treat to witness the beginning
of an artist’s evolutionary journey towards maturity.
Other equally important works in the exhibition include a
study for Lam’s masterpiece The Jungle and several paintings
of his signature female horse headed creature, the femme
cheval. Perhaps the most sticking of his paintings are those,
such as an untitled 1947 painting depicting mischievous horse
headed dragons and turnip headed impish devils, which
demonstrate Lam’s technical mastery of painting in a smooth,
fluid calligraphic manner. In these paintings, the oil medium
takes on the soft qualities of a wash as it seeps into the paper.
The exhibition, which runs until January 21, 2008 at the
Haggerty Museum, is simply “a must see” for anyone interested
in modern art or Latin American art. Likewise, the exhibition
provides the broadest and most comprehensive array of works
from a major artist’s career that Milwaukee has seen is a long
time. Wifredo Lam in North America should go down as one of
Milwaukee’s most outstanding exhibitions.
Wifredo Lam in North America will travel through 2008 to the
Miami Art Museum, the Museum of Latin American Art in Long
Beach, California and the Salvador Dali Museum in Florida.
| Wifredo Lam, Femme aux cheveux longs, I (Woman with Long Hair, I), 1938. Gouache on paper, 39 3/8 x 26 in. Collection of Ramón and Nercys Cernuda. © 2007 Artist’s Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. Image: www.marquette.edu/haggerty |
| Photographs from the opening reception of Wifredo Lam in North America are courtesy of the Haggerty Museum of Art. |
| Copyright 2007 Art History Chicks LLC |
| SEARCH THIS SITE |
SEARCH THIS SITE is
case sensitive, so be sure
to use capitalization where
needed.
case sensitive, so be sure
to use capitalization where
needed.
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
This month in STI:
Inside and Outside:
Marketing and the
Martín Ramírez
Exhibition at the
Milwaukee Art Museum
Wifredo Lam in North
America at the
Haggerty Museum of
Art
Bronze, Fonze, and
Folly?
Jason S. Yi: Yellow
Mountain and Other
Places at Dean
Jensen Gallery
Sketches: short take
on current exhibitions;
The Nohl Fellowship
Awards
fabrics interseason,
surface: tapisserie no.
1
Cover shot
Contact us
Inside and Outside:
Marketing and the
Martín Ramírez
Exhibition at the
Milwaukee Art Museum
Wifredo Lam in North
America at the
Haggerty Museum of
Art
Bronze, Fonze, and
Folly?
Jason S. Yi: Yellow
Mountain and Other
Places at Dean
Jensen Gallery
Sketches: short take
on current exhibitions;
The Nohl Fellowship
Awards
fabrics interseason,
surface: tapisserie no.
1
Cover shot
Contact us
Sign up for email updates
