Wifredo Lam’s Transcultural Surrealism

Transculturality is at the heart of the Cuban artist Wifredo Lam’s surrealism. It can be traced back to African, European, and Chinese descent as well as to his transatlantic biography and exchange within the surrealist network activities between Madrid, Paris, and Havana in the first half of the 20th century.

In her lecture, Andrea Gremels (Europa-Universität Viadrina) examines the transcultural surrealism of the paintings Wifredo Lam created in the 1940s – after his return to Cuba during World War II – exploring the symbolic worlds of Afro-Caribbean religious practices such as Haitian Voodoo and Cuban Santería. In particular, she will consider how Lam’s transcultural art engages with the colonial history of enslavement in the Caribbean and how the surrealist technique of confronting this historical trauma is discussed by his contemporaries across the Caribbean. In this context, Fernando Ortiz‘s essay on the work of Wifredo Lam, written for Lam's first solo exhibition in Havana in 1950, plays a crucial role.

Moderation: Susanne Klengel (ZI Lateinamerika-Institut)

The lecture is part of the exhibition „Surrealismus in Lateinamerika. Zeitschriften und Künstlerbücher“