One of the paintings of the famous Cuban Wifredo Lam ( Sagua La Gande , December 8, 1902 – Paris, September 11 1982 ), was recently sold at an Latin American art auction at Christie’s in New York for 845,000 dollars.
” The Rose Zombie” ( 1950) – considered a tour de force in which he presents a syncretism iconic figure of the artist , scored one of the best prices on the double session that took place over two days (November 19 and 20 ) . Although this figure as far from his personal records set in December 2010 when “Les Fiancés , ” was sold for $ 3 million at the Art Basel Miami Beach , just minutes after the auction opened. A month earlier, his ” Les Abalochas danesent pour Dhambala , dieu de l’ unité ” imposed a new record for the Cuban painter, when the auction totaled 2.15 million at Sotheby’s , the same place where in May of that year was sold “Sur les traces ” for1.42 million.
According to reports from the official site of the auction house, the big winner of the event was the Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo, with the sale of four of his works for a total of .5 million, among which ” woman reaching the moon ” , made 1.44 million .
Tamayo, whose “Troubadour” remains the work of a Latin American artist sold at the highest price at auction ($ 7.2 million), triumphed again in the double session organized by Christie’s with this oil painted with cubist influences in 1946 and that belonged to the Museum of Cleveland.
Brazilian Beatriz Milhazes achieved the second best kick with her acrylic on canvas “O Casamento” a geometric game that recreates a marriage sold for 1.02 million dollars, followed by “The Rose Zombie” by Lam, and “Relief No. 285 “, by the Brazilian Sergio Camargo for $ 749,000.
The big surprise of the auction at Christie’s, according to EFE, came from the hand of fellow Brazilian Abraham Palatnik, which quintupled the estimated price of its “visual Sequence S-51”, to be acquired for $ 785,000 and set a new record for artist hitherto stood at $ 182,500.
The latest art auction at Christie’s offered an outstanding selection of over 240 lots of some of the most renowned modern and contemporary artists from the region. In it were included works from the collection of several prestigious public and private collections as well as exceptional paintings and sculptures of key Latin American artists. Along with those already mentioned, there were available creations of greats of the Latin American art as Joaquín Torres-García, Sergio Camargo, Jesus Rafael Soto, Fernando Botero, Antonio Berni, and Armando Morales.
The Cuban painter Wifredo Lam, internationally renowned, is the initiator of a cultural blend that combines painting Western modernism and African or Caribbean symbols. He was part of all avant-garde movements of his time – Cubism, Surrealism, CoBrA – inciting liberty, he favored access to unconscious or exploring the marvelous, through graphic automatism.
He deserved many awards and prizes in life, his works are now in museums around the world. Lam works have been auctioned in all Latin American art auctions worldwide, also reaching the highest prices (eg, $ 1.267, 500 The Green Morning, oil / paper, 1943. Sotheby’s Latin American Art Sale # NY7140, May 27, 1998: lot 12).
