Agustín Cárdenas

Agustín Cárdenas (Cuba 1927 - 2001)

Agustín Cárdenas was an internationally renowned Cuban sculptor. Agustín Cárdenas spent his childhood in Matanzas, Cuba, and is of African descent from Senegal and Congo. Between 1943 and 1949, Agustín Cárdenas studied at the San Alejandro National Academy of Fine Arts in Havana, under the guidance of Juan José Sicre. Agustín Cárdenas participated in the Cuban Engravers' Association from 1951 to 1955 and was a member of the avant-garde group Los Once from 1953 to 1955, with which he exhibited several times. In 1952, Agustín Cárdenas participated in the exhibition "Pintura Ávila Escultura Cárdenas" at the Workers' Palace in Havana, and in 1955, he held the exhibition "20 Esculturas" at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana.

Agustín Cárdenas moved to Paris in 1955 and, in 1957, joined the local surrealist movement with the support of the poet André Breton, who described his artistic hand as "efficient as a dragonfly." Agustín Cárdenas developed sculptures of abstract and biomorphic forms, inspired by nature, the human body, and elements of Afro-Cuban culture, including references to Dogon totems, with influences from Brâncuși, Henry Moore, and Jean Arp. Agustín Cárdenas worked with wood, marble, and bronze, creating works with fluid, sensual lines.

Agustín Cárdenas participated in important international exhibitions, such as the "Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme Eros" in Paris (1960), the II International Biennial of Small-Scale Sculpture in Budapest (1973), and "Tono a Tono" at the Hotel Habana Libre in Havana (2000). Agustín Cárdenas also exhibited in Seoul (1987), New York (2002, "Desires and Grace" exhibition), and Caracas, as well as in several group exhibitions, including the IV National Exhibition of Painting, Sculpture, and Engraving at the Asturian Center in Havana (1950).

Agustín Cárdenas received numerous distinctions throughout his career, including the Second Prize of the VI National Salon of Painting and Sculpture in Havana (1953), the XXXVII Silver Medal at the Salon of Fine Arts, Círculo de Bellas Artes, Havana (1955), the Order of Arts and Letters in France (1976), the Fujisankey Prize in Japan (1976), and the National Prize for Visual Arts from the Cuban Ministry of Culture (1995).

Agustín Cárdenas's works are in the collections of renowned institutions, such as the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Hakone Open-Air Museum in Japan, the MoMA in New York, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana, the Center National des Arts du Cirque, the Fonds National d'Art Contemporain and the Musée de la Sculpture en Plein Air in Paris, the Musée d'Art et d'Industrie in Saint-Étienne, France, the Musée d'Art Contemporain in Algiers, Algeria, the Kendall Art Center in Miami, Florida, and the Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas, Venezuela.