Graphic: Bank of America logo
Audio: Jazz music playing
Graphic: Bank of America presents Masterpiece Moment
Video: Exterior and interior shots of the RISD Museum
On-screen text: RISD Museum, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
Video: The painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by
Wifredo Lam
On-screen text: Wifredo Lam (Cuban, 1902–1982), The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, oil and pastel over papier mâché and chalk ground on bast fiber fabric, 85 1/4” x 77 1/8”
Video: Sarah Ganz Blythe, Interim Director of the RISD Museum, standing next to the painting The Eternal Presence(An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
On-screen text: Sarah Ganz Blythe, Interim Director, RISD Museum
Audio— Sarah Ganz Blythe: Hello, I am Sarah Ganz Blythe, Interim Director of the RISD Museum in Providence, Rhode Island. Welcome to Bank of America’s Masterpiece Moment. Today I would like to talk to you about one of my favorite works from our collection, Wifredo Lam’s…
Video: Wifredo Lam in his studio in front of The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, and The Wizard of the Ocean, 1947
Audio: …The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla) from 1944, and tell you why I think it is truly a masterpiece.
Video: The painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by
Wifredo Lam
Audio: Wifredo Lam’s surrealist composition The Eternal Presence is a dense and haunting image that embraces aspects of Lam’s Cuban, Chinese and African heritage.
Video: Sarah Ganz Blythe standing next to the painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: It was painted in 1944 and measures around 7 feet high by 6 1/2 feet wide.
Video: The painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by
Wifredo Lam
Audio: It’s one of the most compelling works in the RISD Museum’s collection. For The Eternal Presence, Lam used monochromatic washes of browns and blacks to evoke the fog of a dream. He drew his composition on a rough hemp surface and used charcoal, pastels, papier mâché and oil paint to emphasize contours and internal structures. Blue and green strokes heighten female forms and sharpen the edges of jungle-like fronds. Reds and oranges flicker across the canvas, enflaming eyes and suggesting wounds. It is this combination of skillful technique and deeply layered, mysterious subject matter that makes this work a masterpiece.
Video: Sarah Ganz Blythe standing next to the painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: In the 1960s, the museum actively collected works by Latin American artists in an effort to create a unique focus within collection of twentieth-century modernist painting.
Video: A gallery installation view of the Modern and Contemporary Galleries at the RISD Museum, 2017, showing the painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam, and the drawing The Lesson, c. 1948, by Elizabeth Catlett
Audio: Through the generous support of the family of Nancy Sayles Day, important works…
Video: The painting The Remainer, 1945, by Roberto Matta; the painting Untitled, 1957, by Elsa Gramcko; the painting Construction with Central Anchor, 1932, by Joaquín Torres-García; the woodcut Smoker in the Window, 1964, by Cesar T. Miranda; the painting Portrait of Maria, 1932, by Cândido Portinari; the woodcut Untitled, 1964, by Américo Abraham Balán; and the woodcut The Prophet, 1963, by Daniel Zelaya
Audio: …by Roberto Matta, Elsa Gramcko, Joaquín Torres-García and numerous others helped establish a diverse representation that continues to grow today.
Video: A photograph of a Theodore Roszak installation at Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, 1962, followed by a Wifredo Lam installation at the same gallery
Audio: The painting came into RISD’s collection through the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York in 1966 and…
Video: The front exterior of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Audio: …was soon requested for loan to an exhibition at the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris.
Video: Sarah Ganz Blythe standing next to the painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: During this loan, The Eternal Presence…
Video: Close-up details of the painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam shown in various stages of conservation interspersed with photographs of conservators working on the painting
Audio: …sustained water damage that weakened its loosely woven fibers and compromised the bonds of its various pigments. In 2015, a grant from Bank of America Conservation Project supported the construction of a new stretcher and a new enclosed frame that protects the painting’s delicate, multi-media surface. The replacement of an old lining using new adhesives established this important painting’s structural stability.
Video: Sarah Ganz Blythe standing next to the painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: Thanks to the generosity of Bank of America, we have recently been able to share it with the international audience.
Video: An aerial view of old fields of a cane plantation followed by a photograph of workers and a horse in a sugar cane field
Audio: Wifredo Lam was born in a small sugar farming province of Cuba in 1902.
Video: Wifredo Lam at the age of 12, Sagua la Grande, Cuba, c. 1914
Audio: His mother was of Congolese and Cuban descent, and his father was a Chinese immigrant.
Video: Archival photographs of the railway station Estación del Norte, Madrid, 1900s, and the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts
Audio: At the age of 21, he moved to Madrid to study at the Academy of Fine Arts and immersed himself in Spanish culture and politics.
Video: A photograph of Pablo Picasso and Wifredo Lam, Vallauris, 1954, by André Villers
Audio: It was there that he met Pablo Picasso, who introduced him to a wide circle of French artists and writers whose work informed his interest in surrealism.
Video: A photographic portrait of André Robert Breton, 1927, by Henri Manuel
Audio: He credited the French poet André Breton for opening him to opportunities…
Video: A photograph of Wifredo Lam standing in front of one of his paintings
Audio: …to explore his psyche and his heritage.
Video: A view of the Capitol building and skyline followed by a street scene with trolley cars and a view of La Playa Beach, in Havana, Cuba, c. 1930s–40s
Audio: After fleeing Europe at the outset of World War II, Lam returned to Cuba and immersed himself in the music, religion and landscape of its rich culture.
Video: The painting The Jungle, 1943, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: In paintings like The Jungle from 1943 in the collection of The Museum of Modern Art…
Video: The painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: …and The Eternal Presence, tropical foliage pulses with the same life force as human and animal forms.
Video: A photograph of Alejandro García Caturla followed by an image of a postage stamp featuring his face over musical notes
Audio: Lam dedicated The Eternal Presence to the Cuban composer Alejandro García Caturla, who was murdered four years earlier at the age of 34. In his compositions, Caturla blended elements of European and African music…
Video: A series of photographs depicting people playing instruments, parading and dancing, and a colorful altar
Audio: …becoming a leader of Afrocubanismo, an artistic and social movement that highlighted aspects of African culture in Cuban society. This fusion of cultures resonated with…
Video: Sarah Ganz Blythe standing next to the painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: …Lam’s artistic objectives, too.
Video: The painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: Surrealist art summons memories from the unconscious, and as with all dreams, the meaning of The Eternal Presence is mysterious and multilayered.
Video: Wifredo Lam in front of his painting The Jungle, 1943, Cuba, 1963, followed by the painting Undesirable, 1962, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: Lam himself alternated between two titles: the embodied “the eternal presence”; and the temporal “eternal present.” The painting is an example of Lam’s late style, in which humans, animals and plants merge into monstrous, hybrid creatures.
Video: The painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: The massive haunches and high-heeled shoe of the figure at left signal a voluptuous femme-cheval. Part horse, part woman, she peers at us from a mask-like equine face. Her counterpart’s alluring curves are accessorized by a twin-headed axe and a lethal knife. Her manicured fingers convey sexual touch while threatening castration.
Video: A photograph of Carl Jung and a photograph of Sigmund Freud
Audio: Lam studied Carl Jung’s work on the collective unconscious, but he also incorporated misogynistic aspects of surrealism that sprang from Freudian psychology.
Video: The painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: The powerful horse-women guard two additional figures. In the foreground, you’ll notice a hunched form crowned by an egg-shaped face. Above it, a multi-horned specter evokes the spirit of Alejandro Caturla.
Video: Sarah Ganz Blythe standing next to the painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: Each presence is associated with Santería…
Video: Photographs of a Santerían altar and a woman performing a Santería ceremony
Audio: …a polytheistic and decentralized religion that synthesizes African Yoruba traditions and Spiritism and which flourished in Cuba.
Video: The painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: Known as orisha, they are representatives of a Supreme Deity and perform the role of guiding humans on Earth.
Video: Sarah Ganz Blythe standing next to the painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: It is this combination of Afro-Cuban and European aesthetic influences…
Video: The painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: …combined with political and spiritual fervor, that make this painting by Wifredo Lam a work of genius.
Video: Sarah Ganz Blythe standing next to the painting The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, by Wifredo Lam
Audio: I want to thank you for taking the time to watch today and learn more about Wifredo Lam’s The Eternal Presence. I encourage you to join the conversation and discuss the work with family and friends. And please visit the Bank of America Masterpiece Moment website to sign up for alerts and ensure that you never miss a moment.
Audio: Music plays
On-screen text:
Title treatment art:
Henry Ossawa Tanner (American, 1859–1937)
The Arch, 1919 (detail)
Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Alfred W. Jenkins, 32.10 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 32.10_SL1.jpg)
Wifredo Lam (Cuban, 1902–1982)
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944
Oil and pastel over papier mâché and chalk ground on bast fiber fabric
Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art, 66.154
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
Wifredo Lam in his studio in front of The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944, and The Wizard of the Ocean, 1947
Wifredo Lam Archives, Paris
The Jungle, 1943
Gouache on paper mounted on canvas
Inter-American Fund. The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Digital image © The Museum of Modern Art / Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY
Wifredo Lam in front of his painting The Jungle, 1943, Cuba, 1963
Snark / Art Resource, NY
Undesirable, 1962
Oil on canvas
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Photo 12 / Alamy Stock Photo
Installation view of the Modern and Contemporary Galleries at the RISD Museum, 2017
Shown:
Wifredo Lam, The Eternal Presence (An Homage to Alejandro García Caturla), 1944
Elizabeth Catlett, The Lesson, c. 1948
© 2021 Catlett Mora Family Trust / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Roberto Matta (Chilean, 1911–2002)
The Remainer, 1945
Oil on canvas
Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art, 66.159
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Elsa Gramcko (Venezuelan, 1925–1994)
Untitled, 1957
Acrylic on canvas
The Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art, 69.206
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
© Estate of Elsa Gramcko
Joaquín Torres-García (Uruguayan, 1874–1949)
Construction with Central Anchor, 1932
Oil on board
Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art, 65.070
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
Courtesy of the Estate of Joaquín Torres-García
Cesar T. Miranda (1922–2017)
Smoker in the Window, 1964
Woodcut on paper
Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art, 68.025
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
© Estate of Cesar T. Miranda
Cândido Portinari (Brazilian, 1903–1962)
Portrait of Maria, 1932
Oil on canvas
Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art, 67.161
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / AUTVIS, São Paulo
Américo Abraham Balán (Argentinian, 1915–1986)
Untitled, 1964
Woodcut on paper
Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art, 67.161
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
© Estate of Américo Abraham Balán
Daniel Zelaya (Argentinian, 1938–2012)
The Prophet, 1963
Woodcut on paper
Nancy Sayles Day Collection of Modern Latin American Art, 71.033.1
Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence
© Estate of Daniel Zelaya
Theodore Roszak installation at Pierre Matisse Gallery New York, 1962
© 2021 Estate of Theodore Roszak / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Wifredo Lam exhibition installed at Pierre Matisse Gallery
Wifredo Lam Archives, Paris
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and Palais de Tokyo, Paris
UlyssePixel / Alamy Stock Photo
An aerial view of old fields of the cane plantation at Cuba Trinidad Valle de los Ingenios (Valley of Sugar Mills)
dov makabaw Cuba / Alamy Stock Photo
Harvest of sugar cane on a plantation, Cuba, c. 1900
Photo 12 / Alamy Stock Photo
Wifredo Lam at the age of 12, Sagua la Grande, Cuba, c. 1914
Wifredo Lam Archives, Paris
Railway station Estación del Norte, Madrid, 1900s
Lebrecht Music & Arts / Alamy Stock Photo
San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Alcala Street, Madrid
Factofoto / Alamy Stock Photo
André Villers (French, 1930–2016)
Pablo Picasso and Wifredo Lam, Vallauris, 1954
Wifredo Lam Archives, Paris
© 2021 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Henri Manuel, Portrait of André Robert Breton, 1927
IanDagnall Computing / Alamy Stock Photo
Manuel Carbonell and Wifredo Lam during an interview at Union Radio television station, Havana, Cuba, 1952
Manuel Carbonell
View from the Sevilla Hotel of the Capitol building and skyline, Havana, Cuba, c. 1930s–40s
ClassicStock / Alamy Stock Photo
Street scene with trolley cars, Havana, Cuba, c. 1930s–40s
ClassicStock / Alamy Stock Photo
La Playa Beach, Havana, Cuba, c. 1930s–40s
ClassicStock / Alamy Stock Photo
Alejandro García Caturla, n.d.
History and Art Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
Postage stamp featuring Alejandro García Caturla
Mark Markau / Alamy Stock Photo
Santería merges the Yoruba religion with Roman Catholic and Native Indian traditions (three Santerían musicians playing) Havana, Cuba
Jorge Royan / Alamy Stock Photo
Santerían procession taking part in May Day celebrations in Santiago de Cuba
ZEN - Zaneta Razaite / Alamy Stock Photo
Santerían altar, Havana, Cuba
Agencja Fotograficzna Caro / Alamy Stock Photo
Afro-Cuban musical performers in Callejon de Hamel, Havana, Cuba
dave stamboulis / Alamy Stock Photo
Carl Gustav Jung, c. 1940
INTERFOTO / Alamy Stock Photo
Sigmund Freud, n.d.
GL Archive / Alamy Stock Photo
An altar inside a Santería house in Trinidad, Cuba
Fabienne Fossez / Alamy Stock Photo
India Colon preforms a Santería ceremony in New York, Sunday, July 15, 2007
Cavan Images / Alamy Stock Photo
“Take the “A” Train”
Written by Billy Strayhorn
Performed by Oscar Peterson
Courtesy of Verve Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises
© 2021 Bank of America Corporation.
Graphic: Bank of America logo
