This book reinterprets Wifredo Lam’s work with particular attention to its political implications, focusing on how these implications emerge from the artist’s critical engagement with 20th-century anthropology. Field work conducted in Cuba, including the witnessing of actual Afro-Cuban religious ritual ceremonies and information collected from informants, enhances the interpretive background against which we can construe the meanings of Lam's art. In the process, Claude Cernuschi argues that Lam hoped to fashion a new hybrid style to foster pride and dignity in the Afro-Cuban community, as well as counteract the acute racism of Cuban culture.

2. This book reinterprets Wifredo Lam’s work with particular attention to its political
implications, focusing on how these implications emerge from the artist’s critical
engagement with 20th-century anthropology. Field work conducted in Cuba, including
the witnessing of actual Afro-Cuban religious ritual ceremonies and information
collected from informants, enhances the interpretive background against which we
can construe the meanings of Lam’s art. In the process, Claude Cernuschi argues that
Lam hoped to fashion a new hybrid style to foster pride and dignity in the Afro-Cuban
community, as well as counteract the acute racism of Cuban culture.
Claude Cernuschi is Professor of Art History at Boston College, USA.
Cover image: Wifredo Lam, The Third World, 1966, oil on canvas, 251 × 300 cm
© Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana. © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS),
New York/ADAGP, Paris.
Race, Anthropology, and Politics in the
Work of Wifredo Lam

3. Routledge Research in Art and Race
Routledge Research in Art and Race is a new series focusing on race as examined by
scholars working in the fields of art history and visual studies. Proposals for mono-
graphs and edited collections on this topic are welcomed.
For a full list of titles in this series, please visit https://www.routledge.com/art/series/
RRAR
Henry Ossawa Tanner: Art, Faith, Race, and Legacy
Naurice Frank Woods, Jr.
The Black Arts Movement and the Black Panther Party in American Visual Culture
Jo-Ann Morgan
Race, Anthropology, and Politics in the Work of Wifredo Lam
Claude Cernuschi

4. Race, Anthropology, and Politics in
the Work of Wifredo Lam
Claude Cernuschi

5. First published 2019
by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Taylor & Francis
The right of Claude Cernuschi to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted by him/her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Cernuschi, Claude, 1961- author.
Title: Race, anthropology, and politics in the work of Wifredo Lam /
Claude Cernuschi.
Description: New York: Routledge, 2019. | Series: Routledge research in art
and race | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019004472 | ISBN 9780815393740 (hardback: alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781351187879 (ebook: alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Lam, Wifredo–Criticism and interpretation. | Race in art.
Classification: LCC ND305.L3 C47 2019 | DDC 759.97291–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019004472
ISBN: 978-0-8153-9374-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-351-18787-9 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India

6. Contents
List of illustrations viii
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1 Picasso 10
2 Surrealism 39
3 Abstract Expressionism 74
4 The Lévy-Bruhl/Lévi-Strauss Debate 108
5 Detotalization, Retotalization, and Atemporality 130
6 Négritude 156
7 Cuba 183
Selected Bibliography 213
Index 224

7. Figures
Cover image: Wifredo Lam, The Third World, 1966, Oil on canvas
1.1 Wifredo Lam, Self Portrait, 1938 11
1.2 Leopoldo Romañach, The Girl of the Sugarcane20
1.3
Victor Patricio Landaluze, When No One Is Around20
1.4 Pablo Picasso, Dancer, 1907 22
1.5 Wifredo Lam, Madame Lumumba, 1938 28
1.6 Wifredo Lam, El rey del juguete, 1942 31
1.7 Pablo Picasso, The Acrobat, c.1930 31
2.1 Wifredo Lam, Untitled, c. 1943 40
2.2
Wifredo Lam, Illustration for Jean-Dominique
Rey L’herbe sous les pavés, 1982 41
2.3 Wifredo Lam Femme, 1941 42
2.4 Jacques-André Boiffard, Untitled, 1930 43
2.5 Eli Lotar, Slaughterhouses of La Villette, c. 1929 46
2.6 Wifredo Lam, Untitled, 1940–1941 48
2.7 Claude Cahun, What Do You Want from Me? 1929 49
2.8
Afkipo Ibo Mask, 20th century, Mixed media,
Metropolitan Museum of Art 50
2.9 Man Ray, Simone Kahn, with Vanuatu male figure, 1927 51
2.10 Wifredo Lam, Head, 1940–1941 54
2.11
Georges Le Miré, Pierre Loeb, c. 1930 54
2.12 Wifredo Lam, Untitled, 1941 56
2.13 Wifredo Lam, Composition, 1979 57
2.14 Man Ray, Untitled (Akan goldweight), c. 1933 63
2.15 Wifredo Lam, façon langagière (detail), 1969 64
2.16 Raoul Ubac Battle of the Amazons, 1939 67
2.17 Wifredo Lam, façon langagière, 1969 68
3.1 Jackson Pollock, Untitled, c. 1939–1940 76
3.2 Frederick Kiesler, Totem for All Religions, 1947 80
3.3 Wifredo Lam, Reflets d’eau, 1955/1957 81
3.4 Jackson Pollock, Male and Female, 1942 83
3.5 Jackson Pollock, Man with a Knife, c. 1940 85
3.6 Wifredo Lam, Untitled, 1946, Ink on paper 86
Illustrations

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