Exhibition in Paris of the work of Agustín Cárdenas

February 8, 2020

The pictorial work of sculptor Agustín Cádernas (1927-2001), one of the great figures of Cuban art in the twentieth century, resurfaces now thanks to an exhibition at the Maison de l'Amérique Latine in Paris, which has recovered, together with the creator's widow, his drawings and watercolors.

From February 6 to April 25, a hundred watercolors and sketches as well as several sculptures, show in the French capital that his approach to painting was «tireless» and part of the «obsessive search for form» that marked his career, according to art historian Susan Power, who has written the catalog.

«I believe this is Cárdenas' moment. The official history of modern art that has been perpetuated through the twentieth century and now in the twenty-first is told from a Western perspective. We are re-evaluating that history and thinking about alternative ways of telling the history of art,» Power declared to the EFE agency.

The historian defended Cárdenas' role as a principal actor in this «alternative view of the history of modern art,» which helps complete the prism not only as a Cuban expatriate in Paris, but also that of an Afro-Caribbean and Latin American.

Elena Malagodi, the Cuban's wife, has directed the exhibition together with her grandson, Atawal Cárdenas, both present at the presentation this Wednesday, as well as three of his four children.

The woman, the couple, the father and the child and the love of nature, themes favored by Cárdenas in sculpture, are the same reflected in his painting that recovers the sensual and striking silhouettes of the Cuban's sculptures.