A promoter of the so-called black culture, Lam developed a multifaceted career in his own discipline, easily moving in illustration, architectural drawing, sculpture, murals, engraving and ceramics.
For some analysts, the avant-garde exponent of painting did a renovating work in which he linked the elements of African and Chinese origin present in his native nation with versatility.
Expert Jose Manuel Noceda says that to talk about Lam is also to walk the streets of Havana, since he created many of his works in that city, observing Cuba’s society and culture in a sensitive way.
According to the expert in Caribbean and Central American contemporary art, the 1940s were Lam’s Cuban period because during that time he developed several stages, phases and diverse series that led him to consolidate his poetics and forge a good segment of his masterpieces.
La jungla (The Jungle) and La silla (The Chair) are two oil paintings that he created from his mastery with the brush in hand and are currently preserved by distinguished art institutions: the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the National Museum of Fine Arts, in Cuba and the United States, respectively.
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