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Bifredo
Lam

Cuba • 1902−1982

Vifredo Lam (Spanish: Wifredo Óscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla, December 8, 1902, Sagua la Grande, Cuba - September 11, 1982, Paris) - Cuban painter.

Father is a Chinese merchant who emigrated to Cuba, his mother is a mulatto with an admixture of Native American blood. In 1916 the family moved to Havana. In 1918-1923, Lam studied at the School of Fine Arts in Havana, then moved to Spain. He was influenced by surrealism, combining it with Afro-Cuban mythological motifs and visual traditions. In 1938 he met with Picasso and his friends (Matisse, Leger, Miro, Braque, Eluard), in the same year he visited Mexico, where he became friends with Frida Calo and Diego Rivera. In 1939, his first solo exhibition was held in the Paris gallery of Pierre Leib. In 1940, at the suggestion of Andre Breton, Lam illustrated his book Fata Morgana (published in Marseille, reprinted in Buenos Aires), later illustrated the books of Rene Chard and others. In 1942 he moved to Cuba, where he lived 10 years, then returned to France.

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