Wifredo LAM - Symbolist composition, 1976 - Original drawing
Original drawing in blue ballpoint pen on paper, 26 x 22 cm.
Dedicated drawing (For Janine her friend the painter Wifredo With all my affection for you.), Signed and dated (Albisola Mare 15-1-1976)
Wifredo Lam discovered Albissola in 1954 following the invitation given by the Danish artist Asger Jorn, founder of the Cobra group, who wanted to invite all artists who shared the same vision of art through ceramics, to Albissola, a small town of Liguria in Italy. Indeed, Abissola was renowned since the first half of the 16th century for its production of ceramics, marketed throughout the world. Jorn's arrival in the 1950s made the small town of Liguria a major meeting place for artists, intellectuals and writers of the time. Wifredo Lam had since 1941 returned to Cuba and did not have the necessary time to travel to Italy for the event. He arrived a few days later and fell under the spell of Albissola, to such an extent that from the 60s, he regularly frequented the place to give himself to his new passion for pottery. Then he settled there permanently, leaving his wife and children in Paris for their education.
Wifredo Lam :
(1902-1982) Wifredo Óscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla, aka Wifredo Lam, was born in Sagua La Grande, (Cuba) on December 8th, 1902 and died in Paris on September 11th, 1982. Cuban painter, and promoter of a mixed-race painting, blending occidental modernism and african & caribbean symbols, thus creating a singular and contemporary langage. He was close to Picasso, the surrealists as well, who considered him as one of theirs. He also rubbed shoulders with the Imaginistes, Phases and CoBrA.
