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Wilfredo Lam, Afro Cuban Artist born

Wilfredo Lam

*Wilfredo Lam was born on this date in 1902. He was an Afro Cuban artist.

Born (Wifredo Yscar de la Concepayn Lam y Castilla), Lam was from Sagua La Grande, a small town in Cuba. His father was Chinese, and his mother was African, Spanish, and Native Cuban.  Young Lam had artistic talent as a young man; he went to Havana to study law and also learned painting at the Academy of San Alejandro. In 1923, he traveled to Madrid to further his art studies. During that time (1929), he married Eva Piriz, but she and their young son died in 1931 of Tuberculosis.

Lam lived in Madrid during the Spanish Civil War, where he sided with the Republic. In 1937, he traveled to Paris and became close friends with Pablo Picasso. Through Picasso, he met many of the leading artists in Paris at the time. With the threat of German invasion in World War II, he left Paris in 1940 and went to Marseille. Through Varian Fry, he became friends with André Breton and formed close ties with the Surrealist movement.

In 1941, he returned to Cuba and stayed there until 1946. During this time (1944), he married Helena Holzer; they were divorced in 1950. In 1960, he married Lou Laurin, with whom he had three children.  His masterpiece is considered to be "La Jungla" ("The Jungle," 1943). He was predominantly a painter, but he also worked with sculpture and ceramics. Wilfredo Lam died in Paris on September 11, 1982.

To be an Artist