Public exhibition from November 11 through November 21 at Gary Nader NY, 24 West 57th Street, New York City. This show will include works from the Nader Art Museum Latin America (NAMLA) as well as Several Prestigious Private Collections

Nader Art Museum Latin America and Gary Nader NY are pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition Wifredo Lam: Blurring Boundaries, which will be on view at 24 West 57th Street from November 11 through November 21. Presenting masterworks from throughout the career of one of Cuba's most celebrated artists, the exhibition will include significant loans from the Nader Art Museum Latin America, one of the largest and most important Latin American art collections in the world, as well as several renowned private collections. Following a successful showing at London’s Phillips, the exhibition focusing on Lam's exploration of his lauded Afro-Cuban iconography and his legacy as a pioneering figure of twentieth century modernism makes its way to New York this month.

Following its showing at Gary Nader NY, the exhibition will make its way to the Gary Nader Art Centre in Miami, located in Wynwood on 62 NE 27th Ave. The exhibit will be on display during Miami Art Week starting on Nov. 29 and run through Dec. 15.

“I am pleased to welcome Wifredo Lam: Blurring Boundaries to our New York gallery,” said Gary Nader, Founder of NAMLA. “Wifredo Lam is a global figure whose work remains amongst the most significant artistic movements, not only in Latin America, but across the world. It Is truly an honor to bring this exhibit to life, and to continue sharing the works of such an illustrious artist with people all over.”

Committed to promoting the finest Latin American Art, as well as modern and contemporary art, the venue located in New York at 57 Street and Fifth Avenue features more than 4,500 square feet of exhibition space. Wifredo Lam: Blurring Boundaries is NAMLA’s first traveling exhibition. The exhibit is making its way to New York after a public showing at Phillips in London in October.

Wifredo Lam

Born in Cuba of mixed heritage, Wifredo Lam studied under Fernando Alvarez de Sotomayor, curator for the Museo del Prado and teacher of Salvador Dali. While studying in Spain he met Pablo Picasso, who would become his mentor and friend, as well as one of his great supporters, introducing him to the intelligentsia of the time.  Lam significantly contributed to modernism during his prolific career as painter, printmaker, sculptor, and ceramist. His works explored Cubism and expanded the inventive parameters of Surrealism while negotiating figuration and abstraction with a  unique blend of Afro-Cuban   and   Surrealist   iconography.   His  iconic  visual language incorporated syncretic and fantastical objects and combined huma-animal figures used with lush vegetation.

Highlights from the Exhibition

From 1938-1941, while Lam was working and living in Paris, he began formulating his inventive syncretism of Cubism and Surrealism with his unique Afro-Cuban iconography. This technique especially concretized in 1942-1943, after the artist returned to Cuba, when he painted his iconic masterpiece The Jungle, which is now part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Hermés Trismégiste is among the most significant works in this exhibition and, along with Le Nid Fasciné and Les Oiseaux Voilés, exemplifies this pivotal period within his oeuvre.

Here on Earth and ldoli are important examples of Lam's cubist-derived metamorphosed figural compositions. When these works were executed, in the 1950s, Lam started receiving a great deal of critical attention internationally, exhibiting extensively in Europe and the United States.

By the 1960s,  Lam continued to develop his figures, including the iconic femme-cheval, in a more geometric and stylized vocabulary, clearly evident in La Sposa and the 1972 painting Le Portrait d'un inconnu. During this time he was living between Albissola, Milan and Paris and traveling extensively to India, Burma, Kenya, and Egypt. It was also during this time that Lam started expanding and producing art in other mediums, including sculpture and ceramics.

Exhibition: November 11 – November 21, Monday to Saturday 10am-6pm

Location: 24 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019