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Wifredo Lam

The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944

Now On View

Description

Maker

  • Wifredo Lam, 1902-1982, Cuban

Title

The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla)

Year

1944

Medium

Oil and pastel over papier mâché and chalk ground on bast fiber fabric

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • oil paint,
  • pastel,
  • chalk

Techniques

  • papier-mâché

Supports

  • bast fiber

Dimensions

216.5 x 195.9 cm (85 1/4 x 77 1/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signed LL

Type

  • Paintings

Credit

Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art

Object Number

66.154

Projects & Publications

Publications

Wifredo Lam

Wifredo Lam et l'Eternel Feminin

Wifredo Lam

Imagining New Worlds

Island Nations

New Art From Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the Diaspora
Read Online

Artistic Expressions of the Human Spirit

Selections from the Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art. November 21, 1997 - April 26,

A Handbook of the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Artistic Expressions of the Human Spirit

November 21, 1997 - April 26, 1998

A Tribute from His Friends

June 21 - September 29, 1996

"De Donde Vengo"

March 15 - April 28, 1996

Cubism and Its Affinities

September 1 - December 10, 1995

From the Reserve II

June 24 - August 27, 1994

Migrations

February 21 - April 26, 1992

Del Nuevo Mundo

June 17 - September 4, 1988

Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art

October 23 - December 24, 1966

Modern and Contemporary Galleries

In this vast composition, figures with animal heads and murderously seductive female attributes are enmeshed in a dense tropical landscape. Completed while the artist was in Haiti, the painting liberally references Afro-Cuban culture, its Santería religion, and psychoanalyst Carl Jung's texts on archetypes of the collective unconscious.

Lam employed the conventions of European Modernism to express aspects of his African, Spanish, and Chinese heritage. Born in Cuba, he received artistic training in Spain. In 1938 he moved to Paris, where he was influenced and encouraged by Pablo Picasso. When he returned home, he established friendships with other Cuban artists, including the composer Alejandro García Caturla, to whom he dedicated The Eternal Presence.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla) with the accession number of 66.154. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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